For you, I will
by ainzowntatsumi
Summary: Tatsumi somehow survived his last clash, though it was a mystery for him how he did it. He is trying to rebuild his life with his lover. But liitle he know that the ghost from the past is still following him, seeking for the chance to enter their new life.
1. The beginning of the turbulence

**Hi everyone! I am a new fan fiction member and want to write some story that I imagined by myself. I came across Akame Ga kill this month and I think there could be some story continued from the ending.**

 **This story follows the manga ending, with some refinement here and there. Some characters that were supposed to die live, as that is the point of this story. I want to build this to be a bit more drama/ romance like story, with illustration over the character that we know during the original story.**

 **Finally, this is my first ever story in Fanfiction. I apologise for grammar mistakes or anything bad about it. Feel free to drop suggestion and comment. Not as other posts here, I have concluded the story in my mind, so rest assured it will be finished in timely manner (unless something really bad happen, which I hope not fingercrossed)**

 **So without further due, please enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the original Story. I am also not associated with any party who legally own this material. This is purely just a fan story and there is no means to commercialise it in the future.**

* * *

It has been four years since the Empire collapsed. The people of the new Kingdom replacing the Empire are trying to build their country back. War has torn them apart, but with the new King trying his best to rectify what has been hurt, they live on with a new hope. Hope that some believe is bright.

Hundred of miles north of the capital, our hero is also trying to fix his life. It has changed, and it is not easy for him to get his old life back. All of feeling he got from being an assassin make the life of villagers seems to be abnormal and boring. It was a routine, and many times his desire of adventure came back and lure him out of his comforting home.

Tatsumi is back at his old village, where everything started not so long ago. He has come from a long way and back for a reason, and only this reason alone has set his mind to live this boring life. He was sitting on an old chair that looks to be ready to break in anytime, when he heard the sound of a little girl calling him.

"Daddy! I have come home!", a little girl shouted when she was entering his home.

Gloom from his face suddenly faded out, replaced by a warm smile looking at the little girl in the door.

She is the reason for him to come back. His daughter with the Night raid's genius sniper. Mine has given him the beautiful daughter that he will be happy to leave everything behind just to make sure this girl will never live the same life as he did. They named her after their fallen Night Raid's member, Sheele.

Her eyes are green, just like his. The hair is from her mother, pink and straight. She looks almost exactly like mini Mine, with exception of her eyes. Sometimes he think, "how could she look like this? I hope she won't be a Mine's copy. How could live be with two of them together?"

"How is your day?", Tatsumi asked her while he reached her with his arms.

"I was playing with Kanna and Syren on the hill. We built some snow figure!", she replied him while going straight to his lap.

"Who took you there? I need to give them a good scold", Mine suddenly join in from the kitchen.

"Oh come on Mine, don't take it too seriously. The hill is safe right now, let her play a bit more", Tatsumi disagreed.

"And what would you do if she is hurt? She is still so young. Jeez, you are her father Tatsumi!", Mine kept arguing.

She has not changed that much. Having a daughter did mature her a bit. But she is still his Mine, who likes to pout and being spoiled by him. Tatsumi smiled remembering what has gone through between them, until they have a peaceful little family with their beloved daughter.

"Ha…. fine. But don't spoil her too much. She needs to experience some more excitement outside".

Sheele moved to her mother and sat on her lap. Her smile is as innocent and pure as his father. And just by that, Mine's heart melted away.

"Hmm okay okay I will not be lecturing you now, what do you want to eat for lunch?"

"I want dessert! I want sweet dessert!", little Sheele jolted as she imagine her favourite sweet cake made specially by her mother.

"Aha, see, she is just like you", Tatsumi smiled and told Mine his thought.

"Hmmph, of course, I hope that she is not like you", Mine replied him while sticking out her tongue.

"Sheele come, help mommy to prepare the food", as she went back to the kitchen followed by Sheele.

Tatsumi back to his thinking. His mind flew back to the event couple years ago, right after he defeated the Emperor's teigu at cost of Incursio. He barely made it alive, after Incursio somehow was destroyed in his last effort to keep the Big teigu from harming innocent people. He was still not able to understand how he could be alive, as he was quite sure he was already dead at that moment. Akame didn't really say anything to him, as she was right there when he was almost gone.

He has kept telling himself that it was his will to be back again with Mine that keep him alive. And it seems everyone agreed in silence. But he knows that Najenda and Akame know something that he does not, a fact that they don't want to share with him.

It has been haunting him back for a while. He managed to get this behind after couple of months, but lately this issue is coming back to him. He does not know why, and he certainly wants to know thought he could not. It seems that the peace he hoped to live with his family is going to be changed soon, and he could never be ready to guess what it would be.

"I should be going, this is the best time to hunt some danger beast", as he finally stood up. This is what he has been doing for a while to make a living. Some remains of danger beast are valuable, and he makes more than enough for the three of them. The people of his village are also happy with him keeping them safe, and in return they have been really helpful with little Sheele. She was a bit troublesome, as you can expect from little Mine, and with the other children keep her accompanied, she was doing better from time to time.

The hunting time is a time that he always waits to come. This is when he could feel back what it feels like to adventure. He never really realised it when he was busy with Night Raid's affair. But now that everything has slowed down, he missed them. Well, he is still young after all. Who wouldn't want to have a little excitement here and there in their life?

"Ah, an evil boar", he said as he looked to one of an alpha-class danger beast between the forest's tree. The beast is quite huge, at least a bit taller than fully grown adult. But for Tatsumi, it was not really a problem. Even without Incursio, he is still a capable fighter. His training during the war was really handy at these times. He started to approach the boar from behind.

"Got you!", one swift swing with his blade, he managed to hurt the boar. However, it did not fell through directly. It looked angry now, and Tatsumi stood back on his feet. He was preparing his next step carefully.

The danger beast charged at him full speed, but his agility is still with him. He pulled his body back a bit, and the danger beast went through past him. The danger beast looked even angrier now that it had failed to hit its target. It started its second attack right after, but Tatsumi again showed his swiftness by dodging it.

"Hmm, what has gotten to this boar? It usually was not as aggressive as this one", Tatsumi dodged the third attack.

He could see a lot of red liquid falling down from one of the boar forward leg, which should have significantly weakened it. But today seems just a bit different for him. "Could it be that my swing was not hard enough?", he thought.

Tatsumi landed another blow at the danger beast, but it was not as effective as he thought. The boar just charged him back even after the other leg seems to be pouring out some more blood.

"Seriously, what is wrong with this boar", Tatsumi started to worry.

They keep to be in a fight for some time. Tatsumi was not really tired, but neither the danger beast. He started to worry that his family would be in panic and searched him. Mine is strong, but he was not so convinced as she does not have her Pumpkin anymore. How could she fight against this beast without her teigu?

"I should finish this now", Tatsumi started to get agitated and he prepared his finishing blow. The moment came and the boar charged him again. With some clever movement, he dodged the attack again and struck the boar's back. Now it looked like it had been finished.

"Huh, finally you gave up", as he was moving toward nearby tree to clean his sword.

"Boom!"

Suddenly a loud noise heard, and Tatsumi quickly turned his head back. There was nothing, but it seems that something big has fallen down. He did notice that the boar was not on the same position as he left it before, but he didn't really worry about it.

"Maybe just my mind, I better get back before I got another spout by the two princesses", he sighed and took some valuable from the danger beast.

The night has fallen when he reached home. As he expected, Mine was not too happy with his late arrival.

"Where have you been? Sheele was worried… wait what happened?", she quickly asked him, as she looked at Tatsumi. He looked more tired than the usual, and he got some blood in his shirt.

"The danger beast today was a bit tough, hehe. Don't worry I am still the strong Tatsumi that you know!" He replied

"This is what will actually kill you one day. You should ask me to help if it is too strong for you", her face was doing the old Mine habit, but she reached Tatsumi to help him with his belongings.

"Oh don't ruin my image in front of Sheele," he replied her while pinching Mine's cheek.

"Hmm so you really is not strong! You just want her to think you are strong", as she started their usual argument.

"Come on Mine, this is not something to argue about. Let's eat, I am hungry", he quickly stop it.

The night was cold. They had finished their dinner, and they was getting ready to sleep. Sheele slept on the next room, and when she sleep, nothing will wake her up unless some rage from her parents.

"Tatsumii… it has been a while", Mine started to play with her hair. Tatsumi knows what this means. But he was too tired. Mine didn't seem to be bothered though, and proceed with her plan.

"Please not today Mine, I am too tired", he gently pushed Mine away.

"Fine! Don't force me when it is your turn!" Mine turned away feeling rejected.

She fell asleep quite fast, but not with Tatsumi. His thought came back bothering him. The moments when he was fallen down and almost disappeared. Suddenly, his body was shivering. As quickly as he usually is, he took his blade closer to him. Something is not right, and he knew he should be worried. Mine was disturbed and awoken by the noise.

"What's wrong?" She asked with half closed eyes.

"Take Sheele here, something was off", he said to Mine without looking.

The sudden cold came back again, and Mine didn't need her second order to bring Sheele to them. But something was off, and they know that they should be alert.

* * *

Meanwhile, not so far away from Tatsumi's house within the forest, a pair of eyes looked angry. Anyone who looked at it will not just be afraid, but frozen in place. Not so long after, the eye was gone, but the atmosphere is still tense.


	2. The bad precedent

**Hi! I am glad to be back here and update this story with a new chapter! Thanks for all reviews, favourites, follows... you guys keep me motivated to finish the story:)**

 **I am really happy to receive more reviews, and I hope that I can make the story even better!**

 **To otakusouth, yeah sorry about the mistakes again, will try to do better and thanks for your input! As of this chapter, I have finished it so I haven't got the time to recheck the grammar.**

 **Anyway, please enjoy!**

* * *

The forest near capital was sparred from the disastrous war. Somehow, it was untouched. Many people said that it has its own guardian. Many doubted but for sure it survived.

Deep inside the forest, a girl wandered around. The girl has crimson red eyes and some weird mark all over her body.

Akame is still around, though she could not officially show her face as free as she wants anymore. The new government could not really give her the freedom, since Night raid was officially not exist. The revolutionary army just keep their eye closed whenever she was seen, but she was still deemed as the killer assassin that once disturbed people's peaceful life.

Akame does not change a lot after the war. Soon after she parted ways with Najenda and Tatsumi, she continued her journey alone. She is an assassin, and she continues to live that way. Finding bandits, some nasty people that keep disturbing the villages nearby, or anything that make killing is a little bit less evil.

She still keep check on her friends and sister's life. She knows where Wave and Kurome are hiding, and so she keep visiting them once in a while. She also knows where Tatsumi went, but since it is far away from where she usually live, she rarely went to them. It has been more than a year since her last visit.

"Hmm, it is really quiet this morning", she talked to herself while keep moving around. She is quite familiar to this forest, as she has been around at least for a month. Right in front, there should be a little pond where she used to take a bath. The water is clear and it is really quiet there. She has never seen a soul nearby that pond, and that is her favourite place when she wants to be alone.

However, she felt a weird sensation on this particular morning. The forest was much more quiet, the breeze was more chilling, and she should have reached the pond by now. Instead of the refreshing water that she expected to see, she stumbled upon a cave on the left of her side.

"What is this place?", curiously she asked herself.

She knew there was something odd with that cave. She has never seen it, and there was something weird that keep calling her to come. She was not afraid, of course, but usually she will try to avoid unnecessary contact. The thought of marching to the cave was unreasonably tempting her mind that day, and she decided to follow it for once.

The cave was quite deep, thought it was not really big in size. Akame had to duck lower in order to go inside. It had unpleasant smell and somehow, it felt to be really cold as she went deeper.

"Huh, there is nothing here, why would I go inside?", she thought as she started to regret what she had done and turned back toward the mouth of the cave. Just at that time, she saw something weird. There was an icicle, already half melted, standing like a tower in a side of the cave. Akame started to have a bad feeling about this and she put her hand on Murasame's hilt. But as she started to put more attention on the icicle, she found something unexpected. Right after, she dashed toward the cave's exit. She knew she had to go soon, go to the north to where her comrades live.

* * *

The night switched to the morning without any event at Tatsumi's home. Tatsumi and Mine passed the night without any sleep. They were just sitting straight and ready for the worst, all the time. They finally relaxed a bit when the sun rose,. Sheele was sleeping soundly, as peaceful as it could be.

"I wonder what was that", Tatsumi still looked anxious and tired, trying to make Mine a bit less worried.

"I don't know what exactly it was, I only know it was nothing good", she replied dryly, while still hugging Sheele. The pressure from her hug woke up Sheele and she was puzzled when she realized that she was in her parents room.

"Mommy, daddy, what's wrong? Why am I here?", she asked while rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing is wrong, we just missed to sleep with you", Tatsumi tried to reply with the best answer he could think of. He didn't want Sheele to worry about them, obviously. But it seems it wasn't really the right answer.

"Hmm, but both of you looks so tired. Mommy got a big black mark under her eyes", she pointed at Mine's eye bag.

"Noo.. mommy is okay, just a bit tired", Mine replied swiftly. Tatsumi giggled when he heard Sheele's question. He asked this question before to Mine, and she didn't talk to him for couple days after that. She was really sensitive with her appearance, and Tatsumi wondered how could she handle herself very well being asked that question by her own daughter.

"What do you want for breakfast? Mommy won't make something sweet though!", Mine quickly followed her reply. She was a bit annoyed looking at Tatsumi reaction for their daughter question.

"growl…", Tatsumi's stomach answered her question faster than Sheele

"Daddy made noisy sound with his belly", Sheele burst to laughter.

Her response helped them to release the tension a lot. Looking at their daughter laughing freely, both Tatsumi and Mine started to smile as well. It seems that the worry they had evaporated as the sun started to rise even higher.

"Ah I know! How about some fried egg? I will also prepare something special today to start the day", Mine rose from her bed while still hugging Sheele.

Tatsumi went to the bathroom and took the shower quickly. The morning was bright, but it was also cold. Well their village has never been hot anyway, it has been like that since he could remember. He quickly pulled his feet to the dining table as he could no longer wait for his breakfast.

"Daddy, daddy, I made this with mommy," Sheele came with a plate of fried eggs and another weird looking stuff on her other hand.

"What did you make, honey? The eggs look really delicious though. Come here and let's eat together", Tatsumi asked Sheele to come closer.

Suddenly his face changed when he saw what Sheele held on her other hands.

"What's wrong Tatsumi? We just got some fresh coconut from Kia. She went to the south earlier this week and brought some for us. I thought it would be refreshing to eat some in the morning.", Mine came and asked Tatsumi as she was worried with Tatsumi's face.

"No, it's nothing, it is just weird to see coconut here", he said.

"That's exactly why I said it is special. It is almost impossible to get it here", Mine replied happily.

They continued with their breakfast, but Tatsumi was not really enjoying his now. Looking at that coconut made him remember about a moment when he felt guilty to think now. He wanted to bury that moment deep inside his heart, but he knew it was impossible to do. He looked at his family, and the guilt came even harder streaking at him. His face looked gloomy and Mine caught it.

"Seriously though, what was wrong? I can put away the coconut if you hate it?" Mine worried and started to pull away the coconut. As she did so, Sheele looked to be sad.

"Mommy i want it... You told me before that we can only get in on the south. You never took me there", she sulked her way out to keep the coconut on the table.

"No, its okay, really. Just leave it there, Mine. Sheele would be sad otherwise.", Tatsumi tried to smile and reply Mine.

She obeyed him, worried that if she continued to pull the coconut away, Sheele would start her tantrums. It is the worst thing to deal with it in the morning, especially with Tatsumi around. He always mocked her when Sheele threw the tantrum and kept saying that it was exactly like her when they were dating before.

Tatsumi didn't touch the coconut at all. Sheele was not concerned though, and she finished it as quick as she can. That was her first time to eat it and she glad that she did it.

"Wow this is really yummy. Mommy, daddy you have to take me to the south, I want to see more there!", Sheele talked to her parents with her last coconut on her mouth.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth! Don't worry, we promise to bring you there", she smiled at her.

"Yes! Anyway, Kanna asked me to go the forest in the west. can I go there, pleaseee?" Sheele asked her parent with her puppy eyes.

"Sheele, I told you yesterday right, it is dangerous. You know how many danger beasts are there at the forest", Mine rejected right away.

"Hwaa, come on I am strong enough to guard myself and to run back if we see any danger, please?" Sheele came back even stronger now.

"It's okay Mine, I was there yesterday and there was no more danger beast, at least for today. You should be cautious though, don't run inside the forest and if you see anything strange, go back right away", Tatsumi allowed her to go.

"YAY! Thanks Daddy," Sheele quickly ran toward her father and hugged him. She turned to her mother briefly while sticking out her tongue.

"This girl…. Okay don't blame me if you are hurt", Mine unable to reject any further.

Not so long after, Kanna arrived at their home. After receiving some advice from Tatsumi, Kanna and Sheele went away to the forest. Mine was still not satisfied though, and glaring at Tatsumi she said, "See, who is spoiling her now. You should be able to say no to her darling!"

"It's okay, they are strong enough right now. I don't want her to be little princess who can't do anything".

Mine sulked, but Tatsumi quickly round his arms around her waist. He started to kiss her neck, and Mine was surprised now.

"Darlinggg, come on it is still morning", she half heartedly told Tatsumi.

"You were asking for it yesterday", Tatsumi ignored her and kept doing it.

"At least let's go the bed first, what if someone see us here", Mine stopped rejecting and turned back to face Tatsumi. He lowered his head and their lips met each other. He kissed her passionately and Mine was more than happy to return his kiss.

Just as things started to get intense, suddenly someone knocked the door.

"DAMN IT", Mine was frustrated and half screamed when she heard the knock. Tatsumi was not very happy as well, but he was more composed and he approached the door, leaving Mine standing near their room.

"Knock knock…" the person behind the door knocked again.

"Who's there?" Tatsumi started to be suspicious. He grabbed his blade and leaning toward the door, waiting for a response.

"It is me", replied from behind the door

Tatsumi seemed to know who it was and quickly opened the door. His guess was true though, and behind the door, standing his old comrade, Akame.

"Akame! What brought you here so suddenly!", Mine ran toward the door. "You should tell us if you want to come as usual", she welcomed her while Tatsumi joined together.

Akame looked tired. She was about to tell them what she found on the cave, but looking at the home, she was reluctant to say so. Instead, she hugged them and replied swiftly "I am just missing you guys, where is little Sheele?"

"She was out to play with the neighbour's kid in the west forest", Tatsumi answered, followed quickly by Mine, "I bet she will regret it now if she know her auntie Akame gave a visit".

Akame smiled a little hearing them. Sheele was not afraid of her. When she was there a year ago, Sheele spent most of the days with her. Akame was as excited as her to spend their time together, as she kind of thinking that Sheele was her child too. She knew she could not bear a child anymore after the curse of Murasame has filled her in. If she tried to bore one, the baby would die right away from the curse. That thought alone left her terrified and little Sheele helped her to overcome it little by little.

"I was thinking to stay here for a while, do you guys mind it?", Akame promptly asked her host.

Mine looked a bit reluctant, but Tatsumi quickly gave his response with a big smile on his face, "of course Akame, you are always welcomed here, no need to worry about it"

"Thanks… ", Akame replied, but her eyes quickly turned to the leftover of Tatsumi's breakfast. Her appetite was still crazy as always and she started to drool looking at it.

"Hahahah you really never change Akame. We cooked too much this morning, if you don't mind", Mine told her as she regain her composure. Akame nodded, and she was not even trying to hide how hungry she was. It was instant, as fast as her strike, and the plates were clean.

"Growl…." her face started to blush as it turned out the left over was never enough for her.

"I will find something to eat in the forest, maybe I can catch Sheele as well there", Akame rose and told Tatsumi and Mine.

Mine face became brighter and quickly she said, "Sure, no worries about that, take all the time you need". Akame face looked confused hearing her response. Tatsumi quickly stepped on Mine's feet before she realised what she just said.

"Oh... I mean... Sheele will be happy if you give her a surprise to meet there. We would also be not worry about her if you are there, being attacked by some dangerous beast", she tried to correct her comment before.

"Okay then I will be going, see you later!", Akame quickly hugged them again and left the house. Tatsumi locked the door and quickly glanced back to Mine. She looked a bit agitated though, and eager to continue what they have left behind.

"Now, shall we continue?", she teased Tatsumi while caressing his cheek.

"You should control yourself more", Tatsumi looked to be not satisfied with her behavior before, but he replied Mine's hand anyway.

* * *

"Hmm.. Where are they?", Akame started to look for Kanna and Sheele as soon as she approached the forest. But she knew Her stomach needed more attention at the moment, and she sneaked in to the forest to find some meat. Not so long for her, and she found some rabbit lingering around. Rabbit wasn't her favourite, but just enough to fill her stomach for now.

Akame started to grill the unfortunate creature, but she was still cautious even though she didn't feel anything wrong around her. The forest felt just right, and the rabbit meat also grilled perfectly. She was much more relaxed now from when she just came, as she still a bit anxious about what she found in the cave. She know that if she told Tatsumi about it, his family's life will never be the same. It was still a suspicion, but she knew her feeling was right at that time.

"I will just sit and watch for now. I hope there won't be anything bad coming to them", she made her mind up to stand idly for now. Perhaps, that was the best option she could take.

The relaxing breeze and full stomach made Akame drowsy. She never had enough sleep during her trip, as she was sprinting towards Tatsumi's village from that day. It was around a week and she got much less sleep as usual. She closed her eyes for a while and fell asleep right away.

She slept for around three hours and it was already past mid day when she woke up. She quickly remembered about Sheele and she decided to search for a while. "Maybe she has gone home", she thought.

Faintly she could hear a sound of children playing and laughing. She quickly dashed toward that sound. It was not far away from where she slept. She could hear Sheele's voice and someone else's voice. From a far, she could see her standing. Her friend was behind the trees, and she couldn't really see them.

"Sheeleee! it's me auntie Akame!", she shouted to Sheele.

"Auntie Akame! When did you came here?" Sheele surprised and quickly turned her head toward her. "Come here, I am playing snow ball with my friends". She told her again.

" _Friends?_ ", Akame confusedly thinking. Tatsumi told her Sheele was only going with Kanna, which means there should only be one more child beside Sheele. " _Who would that be?_ ", she wondered will moving past the last tree that separated them.

Right after she reached them, she stood frozen. Her jaw dropped a bit and she look at them in shock, or more so, terrified. The look upon her eyes has just confirmed her fear, and she know at that moment that Tatsumi's family are going to be in turmoil.

* * *

 **Thanks for tuning in! I hope you guys like it. Please comment / review if you think there is something I can improve.**

*Some update*

 **Initially, I didn't plan to put any lemons in this story. But as I write the story, I think some Lemons are necessary to improve the story. So forgive me sirs and madams, but I am planning to add one in the next couple chapters. I will try to do it in an elegant way though, hope you like it :)**

 **I am also planning to update the story every week (every monday). Hope that I can keep up. The only thing bothering me right now is actually reading other's fanfic x.x**

 **See you next time!**


	3. The Kid

**Hello everyone!**

 **Thanks for the reviews and support! I am really happy to update this story again. To be honest, by the time I uploaded it, I have finished couple chapters ahead. But I didn't want to publish it yet, since I am afraid that I would need to change some of the content. That means, the release plan is still on track!**

 **For those who wonder why there are not much fighting ark, I did not really plan this to be adventure story. Some fight scene is inserted so this story will have a better plot, but it won't be the main focus. The focus will be the relations among the characters after the main event on manga is finished.**

 **Uh oh, and sorry if the grammar quality was not increasing a lot. I did my best here :sweat_smile:**

 **I do plan to make this a sweet / vanilla story, and I hope you kind of liking it :)**

 **Without further ado, please enjoy!**

* * *

" _Where is this? Why is this place is so cold? Why everything is white?"_

 _Tatsumi sat, looked around puzzled, not knowing where he was. He seemed to be in the middle of a snow storm. Nothing he could see. It was just sheer cold that penetrate his spines._

" _Minee? Sheele? Everyone? Where are you?"_

 _He screamed, desperately. He started to feel afraid. Yes, afraid, a feeling that he had forgotten for so long. He fought a lot of danger with Night Raid. Many fights had almost taken his life. But this one was different. It was calm, it was quite. It was deafening to the point that he thought he started to lose his insanity._

 _Tatsumi stood up. "I need to go away from this place", he made his mind. Walking straight, not knowing where to go. He kept walking for so long that he didn't remember anymore._

" _Darling, come to me"_

 _A sound faintly echoing from a far._

" _Who are you?", he replied half screaming._

" _It is me, it is I who own you"_

" _Mine? Is that you? It is you, right?"._

" _No darling, who is Mine? You are mine, Tatsumi, no one else own you. Now come, come to me"_

" _What are you talking about? Who are you? I am not owned by anyone but my family", he replied to the sound as he was being pessimistic again._

" _YOU ARE MINE TATSUMI. COME TO ME BEFORE I AM OUT OF MY PATIENCE", the sound became more violent._

" _Stop this! Give me back my family. GO AWAY!" Tatsumi now screaming in panic._

 _He started to see a pillar of snow coming to his way. He could not see anything else beside the snow pillar, but his feeling demanded him to move further away from it. He started to do so, but only to find that his feet were frozen in place._

" _STOP! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" he screamed helplessly._

" _You don't have the right to say no, my Tatsumi. I am the one to decide. If you still don't understand, let me show you what I can do to you", the sound from the pillar started to be terrifying._

 _He glanced upon the pillar again, and suddenly he saw Mine was there. He smiled and spoke as loud as he can, "Mine! Come here! I am here"_

 _But as soon as he finished the word, he saw Mine's head was severed by a flash from the snow. Mine's head flew, fell on the floor and rolled until it stopped right on his foot._

" _NOOOO… MINEEEE… NOOOO", Tatsumi's eye full with tears, tears that was never been shed for a long long time._

" _You see Tatsumi, don't reject me. Now come", the sound spoke again with vicious tone, just like a maniac._

" _STOP! GIVE ME BACK MY FAMILY. GO AWAY", Tatsumi screamed crazily._

 _The snow pillar kept coming, and finally, he was inside the pillar._

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Tatsumi woke up from his sleep sweating rigorously. His body was drenched in his sweat, and he was shaking as he sat on his bed. The first thing he did was turning around, and breathed out the relieve when he saw Mine was still sleeping next to him. The image from his nightmare was so vivid, as clear as a reality. Waking up this time was the best he had ever had during his life.

"Hmmmh? What happened darling?", Mine was disturbed and awoken from her sleep. She looked confused. She had never seen Tatsumi looked to be so terrified, not even once before.

"No.. NO! STOP! Don't call me with that word!", Tatsumi was still in panic and replied her in fear.

Mine looked even more puzzled, and tried to grab Tatsumi's hand. He was still shaking. She leaned toward his back, and Tatsumi started to catch on his breath.

"Hah… hah… are you ok... Mine?", Tatsumi started to regain his composure.

"Yes, I am always fine here. What happened to you? Is it a nightm…", suddenly, Tatsumi hugged her really tight. So tight that it was hurting her.

"Tat.. Tatsu… Tatsumi… I ca...n't bre…..ath", Mine tried her best to survive. Tatsumi didn't really respond to her words, but instead he kissed her for very long time.

Finally, Tatsumi let Mine go. She was still confused, even feeling afraid now that Tatsumi had never acted this way before.

"I … I … had the worst nightmare ever….", that was all words coming out from Tatsumi

"What happened? You can tell me if you don't mind", Mine tried her best to comfort him now.

"I… I was in the middle of nowhere… I saw a pillar of snow and it started to say a lot of words that I have forgotten. But I remember seeing you being killed by it…", he trembled while talking to her.

Mine was shocked hearing his story. But she remained calm and hugged Tatsumi again. This time, Tatsumi replied her hug gently, as his breath started to return to normal. They stayed like this for a while.

"What time is it? Did we sleep too long?", Mine tried to divert the topic. It was good enough to shift Tatsumi's mind from his nightmare.

"Hmm.. It seems it was past mid-day already. I think we slept for at least four hours. We were not really sleeping at all yesterday."

"Uh oh, let me check if Sheele has come back", Mine released Tatsumi and dashed toward the living room. By now she had been out for more than 5 hours, enough to give her excuse for a lengthy lecture to Sheele.

"Tatsumi, Sheele is not back yet, let's go look for her!" Mine quickly came back to the room, looking worried now.

"Yeah I think we should. Let's go Mine, get ready", Tatsumi was still being affected by his dream, not taking the risk to keep her daughter out of his sight for now. Mine was still worried and Tatsumi followed his words to help her relax. "Don't worry too much, she might be just playing overtime with Akame now. Akame will make sure she came back safely"

"Oh yeah… I forgot Akame was going to the forest as well. But let's go, I can't be in peace without going there" Mine replied him while taking out her gun. She used this small gun now since Pumpkin was destroyed. It was not an imperial arms, but still quite handy against bandits, though not much effect to danger beasts.

"Yeah, me too", Tatsumi pat her head and they moved together towards the forest.

* * *

"Auntie Akame! When did you arrive?" Sheele asked Akame with a big smile on her face. She was quite fond of Akame and she was happy to be with her, especially when they were in the forest like this. Akame would always show her things that her parent would not even discuss about, from hunting to cooking Danger Beast.

Akame was not smiling. She looked at Sheele and her friends. She knew the first other kid, the one with a long black hair tied as a ponytail. That girl was Kanna, the kid from Tatsumi's neighbour. She had met her before from her last visit. But the other kid, was the one who made her terrified. It was not someone from Tatsumi's village, and the girl's appearance made her shivered.

"Sheele, Kanna! Come here, stay away from that girl", Akame shouted to Sheele while pointed to the confused kids. The unknown kid though, was also confused. She then looked down without really saying anything.

"Why Auntie? This is my new friend, she is Ester", Sheele happily grabbed the kid's hand and pull her closer to Akame. "Ester, this is auntie Akame, she is my parent's close friend. Come on don't be afraid! Auntie Akame likes meat, but she won't eat you". The girl started to raise her head and smiled a bit.

To Akame surprise, the girl politely bow down and say hello to her, "He.. Hell...o Auntie Akame, I am Ester, ni.. Nice to meet you"

" _Ester huh? That name….", this thought flew in Akame's mind_

"Where do you come from? Why are you here alone?" Akame asked Ester with much suspicion in her tone. She put the her hand at Murasame's hilt, a habit when she felt a danger is close.

"I… I am here from nearby the capital. I am with someone who have taken care me for as long as I can remember", Ester replied her with confusion and fear on her face.

"Who is that someone? Where is she now", Akame was getting impatient and she was afraid about the worst part to come.

"Her… her … name is Sora. I don't know where she is now, I haven't seen her from the morning. That's why I am playing alone until I met Kanna and Sheele," Ester replied while still being a bit afraid of Akame. She then looked toward Kanna and Sheele and started to play again with them to shove away her unpleasant feeling.

" _Sora?... Maybe... I was wrong to be afraid"_ , Akame softened after hearing the name. " _I must have taken the conclusion too quickly"_ , she thought while watching the kids running around.

The kids were hungry and their stomach started to growl. Sheele and Kanna laughed after hearing it while Ester looked ashamed about that. She was then smiling embarrassedly while blushing.

Akame was shocked looking at that smile. She forgot where she had seen that smile before, but she knew it was familiar to her. She could not figure it out, and while she was deep in thought, they heard another growl, this time coming from all four of them.

"Let's go to eat", Akame asked them to move. She had to put this on her doubt, but she could deal with it later. Food always came first.

"Yay! Are we going to eat Auntie's roasted meat? I am missing it!", Sheele happily asked Akame while following her. Her friends started to follow. "Your roast meat is so special that daddy and mommy always failed to make it", Sheele was being cheerful as always, and again it helped Akame to relax a bit more.

"Hmm, let's see what we can find. Your father told me that he has cleared this area yesterday, so I think we won't find anything good to eat", Akame replied without looking back.

Her tension has gone by now, but she was still suspicious about Ester. Her appearance undeniably resembling her biggest enemy, the Empire's Strongest, the one that she fought to the verge of dead.

Her hair was blue coloured, thought it was short. Her face may not exactly similar to her, but she could see the resemblance on the girl's face. Only her attitude had put a doubt on Akame's judgement. And her smile. A smile that was so pure, a smile that could only come from an innocent child that had never been tainted by the corrupt world. A smile that would never be seen from anything associated with that person.

But Akame knew one thing. Esdeath was not dead. She is alive.

* * *

"This bring back the memories, right?"

"Yeah.. If only we are not in worry for Sheele"

Mine and Tatsumi were exploring the forest to find their daughter. They have just arrived and reached the place where Akame slept before. They found some carcasses and just by looking at it, they knew Akame should have been here before. They went deeper to the forest in hope to find them.

"Hmm.. Where do you think they are going? I can't imagine them going much deeper than here", Mine said.

This was the first time they had reached the deeper part of the forest. It was a huge forest, spanning more than at least 50 miles from the entrance near their village to the other side. No one ever now what was in the middle of the forest.

"Let's hope not…", Tatsumi could not really hide his' anxiety. He was not worried about him and Mine, but he could not imagine what would happen to their daughter if they go much deeper. He would never be able to forgive himself.

"Tatsumi, look!", Mine pointed to the snow on the ground. It was trails of several people, moving to the south of the forest. It seems they were there not so long ago.

"It looks like children's trail, lets follow it!", smile returned to Tatsumi's face. Getting a glimpse of hope, they marched south following the trail.

* * *

"Auntie Akame… we are hungry…", Sheele was getting impatient now.

It had been almost an hour since they had been walking from the place they met. To make it worse, they could not really see the sun, so they were kind of lost in the forest. Akame didn't get bothered by their situation, since her priority was to find food for them. But it was a grieve luck so far. On this past hour, none of them saw anything that they could eat. It was weird since they should have stumbled upon some animals by now.

Akame was in front of the line, while the trio closely following from behind. Suddenly she catched a tree that bore some weird coloured fruits. She had never seen this fruit before, but as they were starving at that moment, she did not really care.

"I will try this fruit, let's hope it is not poisonous", Akame told them while she was picking up the fruits.

"But if it is poisonous, how will you know?", Ester suddenly asked Akame

"I am resistant to poison, but I can tell if there is one in my food. Don't worry about it", she said while looking at the kid. When she tried it, she did not find any poison, thought it had some weird substance that she tasted in the fruit. She was hesitant to give the fruit to the kids, but then again she heard the grumbling voice from the kid's stomach. Now she was forced to do it.

"Be careful, I don't taste any poison inside, but there could be something else that may affect your body", she said while handing over the fruits. All of them started to eat right away.

When they were eating the fruits, Akame suddenly noticed the difference in the kids' hair. The color of their hair turned to the color of the fruit. " _Maybe that's what I found before. Weird, is this thing really exist?"_

They finished their meal quickly and walked back to the village. The sun has set down to the west, and they could somehow point the direction now.

It was not a long walk to get out of the forest. When they reached the village gate, they saw two persons waiting impatiently. Tatsumi and Mine had decided to go back and wait there, but they were really worried now. When they saw the group, they were relieved and overjoyed. Mine ran to hug Sheele in tears, while the latter didn't show any regret for her little adventure.

Tatsumi was more composed, and he noticed the third kid. Akame also noticed how Tatsumi was looking at the kid thoroughly. The minute after, she saw Tatsumi was standing still, and his face frozen with mind deep in thought.

* * *

 **As always! comment, favs, follows, are always appreciated. Please keep sending me one to help me improve the story :)**

 **Till next week!**


	4. The Return

**Hello everyone! Glad to be back :)**

 **First of all thanks to the support for this fanfic! shout out to Shadowlord for keep visiting and encouraging me to work on this story! Hope it could only be better to you my readers.**

 **I came across another similar story on fanfiction, and I am really inspired by that story. I hope that I could also write a great one and finished it in timely manner.**

 **Now talking about this chapter, I am sad that I have to change the rating with the content of this chapter. There was a slight lemon part here, which I have tried to remove. But the part was damn good to illustrate the plot, that I have given up to rewrite it. I hope it was not too much and adequate to improve the story quality.**

 **Then without further ado, please enjoy!**

* * *

 _"Since you have told me your past, I will tell you mine..."_

Tatsumi mind flew back to the time where he and Esdeath were trapped on the Tropical Island, courtesy from Syura. Next to him, Mine was hugging Sheele with tears flowing down from her eyes. Akame just stood still, but her eyes looked at Tatsumi with a suspicion.

"Why are you playing out for so long! Do you know how worried we are? Please Sheele don't do this to your parent", she couldn't bring herself to be angry with her daughter, but nonetheless Sheele started to feel the guilt looking at her mother's condition.

"I am sorry mommy…. We didn't meant to make you worry. We were lost in the forest but Auntie Akame helped us to get through."

"Wait… what happened to your hair?" Mine asked now she noticed that her daughter's hair colour turned red.

"We ate some weird fruits which auntie Akame found since we couldn't find anything else to eat.", Sheele replied her. Only by then Mine started to see that all of them had red hair.

Mine calmed down and she noticed the unexpected guest. She didn't put a lot of suspicion on this new kid, since her appearance didn't ring any bell in her mind.

"Who is this, Sheele? I have never seen her before", Mine asked confusedly.

Before Sheele replied, Ester politely bowed to Mine and introduce herself.

"Hello auntie, my name is Ester and we met on the forest today when I was playing alone. Nice to meet you!", she smiled innocently after raising her head.

 _"That smile! That's Sheele's smile! Tatsumi's smile_ ", suddenly Akame grasped. She knew the missing puzzle now, but it made her felt uneasy.

"Hmm… that's weird. Why are you alone in the forest? Don't you have anyone with you?", Mine asked her directly.

"I am here with my caretaker, but she is going somewhere from the morning. I was getting bored then I play alone" she replied her before quickly followed, "Oh! I should come back before she is worried".

"But the forest is dangerous, and the night has fallen. Come with us, I am sure your caretaker will not be mad if she find you with us", Mine asked her. Sheele smiled and she said, "yes! Come with us Ester! Mommy made the best dinner you can get in town", and then they laughed. Tatsumi didn't, neither Akame.

Ester looked confused, but then she didn't fight back when Sheele grabbed her hands.

"Let's go! Kanna do you want to join us tonight?" Sheele asked her other friend, but she refused politely while pointing to the city centre direction. She turned her head and she could see Kanna's parent coming with angry and worried face.

"Ops… sorry we make your parents worried about us too. Let us apologise," Ester grabbed both of their hands and moved to Kanna's parent.

"What a sweet and polite child! Uh I hope Sheele can learn much more from her", Mine thought to herself while looking at them.

"Tatsumi, Akame, why are you standing like a statue there? Let's go and meet Kanna's parents. We have to apologise as well"

Akame returned to her sense, but Tatsumi's mind was still somewhere else. Mine stomped his feet before he quickly jolted in pain and looked at her displeased.

"What are you thinking? Jeez.. c'mon it's getting dark here"

Tatsumi just nodded and followed them. After a small chat with Kanna's parent, they splitted up and Tatsumi's group entered their house as it was getting much colder outside.

"Ah, what happen to your hair?" Tatsumi just remembered that he hasn't asked this question to the girls. Sheele was annoyed that she had to explain it again and she walked to the shower. But Ester told Tatsumi what happened. Tatsumi looked at the girl and he just stared at her blankly, as his mind refusing to be there and wanted to go back to the events happening around 4 and a half year ago.

"Ouch!" Mine smacked his head as he was gazing out again. "What happened to you? You have been doing this since we were on the gate", she seemed worried looking at her partner.

"I.. I am okay. Don't worry" Tatsumi quickly replied before angering Mine.

"What's for dinner? I want something special mommy for me and Ester!", Sheele came blazing to the dining room as she finished taking her bath.

"We don't have much time to prepare since we are looking for you guys! Now don't complain and eat whatever it is!", Mine replied her daughter with assertive tone. Sheele looked disappointed but she could not really argue since it was their own fault that her parents could not prepare dinner for them. They gathered on the table and sat. quietly. Akame was helping Mine with the food, but Tatsumi came back to gazing and sitting with blank mind.

" _My father died because he was weak…"_

He came back when Mine put the food's plate on the table. It was just a simple dish, with rice and water to follow. They began the feast right after and finished in just matter of minutes.

"I am still hungry... " Akame broke the silence. She went to the kitchen and prepare some more food.

"Akameee you are really haven't changed at all", Mine laughed and followed here to the kitchen.

The dining room felt lively with two guests there. They chatted and laughed a lot before returning back to their beds. Akame slept in the middle room while Sheele and Ester slept together in her room. Mine had just finished cleaning the dishes when she found Tatsumi was sitting in the bed.

"What's wrong with you Tatsumi, you kept gazing out a lot today", she asked him while going up to their bed.

"Nothing, really. I am still wondering about this Ester kid, don't you think she is really weird?", Tatsumi replied her while still looking forward.

"Hmm what's weird?"

"I mean, she was alone in the forest, though she said that she came with a caretaker. She is weird and we need to take an eye on her", he replied while slowly turning his head toward Mine.

"I only see her as a polite and cheerful girl. I don't see anything to worry about her. In fact I am happy that I think she brought a good influence to Sheele", she sighed now she remembered how spoiled their kid is.

"Still, I felt something was off…"

"Don't worry to much… Let's sleep. We need to recover after this long day. Remember we barely slept this morning? I am really tired now", Mine quickly laid down to her bed, rolled up the blanket and sleep. Tatsumi did the same, thought his mind was still refusing to sleep.

* * *

 _"What? But he is your father!"_

 _"Yeah I know. But it is his fault that he is weak!"_

 _I was surprised to hear that from her. But at an instant, I could see something different on her eyes. Her mouth keep saying about her father's weakness, but I saw her eyes told me the other way. I looked inside and I saw the eyes of a sorrowful little girl being left alone. I swore to God my heart beating faster, and I know at that time beneath thousand layers of fortified and hardened heart, there was a fragile little girl in this sadistic woman. There was a beauty part of her that touched my heart that made it betrayed my mind. She is my enemy. God dammit, she is the biggest rock in Night Raid's path! But my heart… oh how my heart has betrayed me._

 _"Esdeath…."_

 _I saw her face changed, to the face of this fragile little girl. She blushed, and my very last defence has been defeated. I grab her the back of her head, pulled it down, and she didn't fight back. I kissed her, right in the lips. She replied, and my heart was about to burst._

 _\- Lemon ahead, if you don't want it, just skip it. -_

 _We kissed. We kissed a lot. We rolled on the sand forgot about where we are. Our heart burned with lust and love, and we didn't care about anything else. When we parted our mouth, it was already filled with other's saliva. I didn't care, she did not care._

 _I could no longer see her as Esdeath the sadistic General. I now see her as Esdeath Partas, the little girl from Partas clan. She is cheerful and proud. She looks like a rose with powerful thorn, and I felt like the most lucky beetle to take her sweet heart._

 _I grabbed her general's shirt and unbuttoned it gently. I put my lips on her ear, her sweet and beautiful ear. I licked it. Her sweat tasted like a morning dew to me. She moaned, and my heart was beating as fast as it could. I pulled my face, and all I can see was a face of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, unable to look at my eye, moaning, blushing. I swear that anyone looking at her at that moment would not now that this woman has tortured thousands of humans, killing millions with just one swoop. I didn't know why, but I just acted as my instinct instructed me too. Never I had been this proactive, but somehow, my mind was not up there to take the control._

 _"Tatsumi… I love you… and I will make you mine…"_

 _That moment I have lost my mind. But those words, I know those words came from her heart. Came from the deepest part, from the little girl that I saw before. I kissed her again, before running down through her neck. She helplessly moaned on every touch that I gave to her. My hands could not just lie idly, and I grabbed the most squishy meat I have ever grabbed. Her breast felt so fluffy, thousand times better than Leone's. I unveil her shirt to show her assets, and her nipple erected so hard asking to be caressed. I playfully run my finger around, and she slipped the most erotic sound I have ever heard._

 _She couldn't hold back, and grabbed my head, pulled it to kiss my lips, and pushed down to her breast. I looked at this hypnotizing view and started to caress it. Her hands grasped the sand, trying in futile to hold the pleasure that ran through her veins. I wrapped my head in the warmth of her flesh. I could only hear her moans as beautiful as an imperial harps being played._

 _I spent quite some time in her sensitive nipples, before she grabbed me and turned me back to let her on top. That, was simply the most stunning I have ever seen. She lowered her head and kissed me again, like there would be no tomorrow. She pulled away her lips, and now I was disappointed, unsatisfied with the missing warmth of her lips. She moved to my neck, caressing and licking it all the way down while tearing apart my shirts. Her tongue stopped at my Nipple, swirling around it playfully. Her hands were wild going down to my pants, and quickly she found my hard manhood standing proudly before her._

 _I didn't think it was her first experience, but somehow the way she looked at it was just like a maiden who saw it for the very first time. But it just happened for a minute, before she greedily grabbed it with her soft hands. This time, I moaned. I could feel my blood gushed out to my face._

 _Her head reaching my chest again, but I grabbed her to pull her lips to mine. We kissed, while her hands still furiously sending me jolts of pleasure all over my body._

 _We changed our position again. This time, I am encouraging myself to see her most sacred area. I pulled her last piece of cloth, and while I did that, I could saw her turning her head. Never ever I thought that this particular person would be so embarrassed when someone looked at her womanhood. I couldn't help but to stare at it. It was simply, the most exciting thing I have ever been up to now._

 _"Tatsumi, don't stare… You are the only one who could see it, don't hesitate"_

 _It kind of surprised me to hear that, but then I put my hesitation away. I touched it with my hands, she moaned. I moved my hands for a little, she half screamed. And I could feel my hand so drenched when I took it away. My curiosity top my sanity, and I put my face closer to her most private area. Closer, inch by inch, until my lips touched her lower's._

 _Both of us could no longer hold it. All primal instincts on us have controlled every single desire and will. I quickly raised, and prepared to take the main action. She somehow find a courage to look at my eyes now and I was the one to be embarrassed. As our skin met, she moaned again._

 _I was nervous. This was the very first time for me. Oh, even actually this was the first time to me to even see a woman's private area. But again, my mind went blank and something took over the control of my body._

 _I slowly thrusted it inside. I was in a bit of pain. But she was the one to scream loudly, as of thousands razors have cut her pale and flawless skin. I was afraid with her reaction but then she said, "Tatsumi, come, fill me with your love."_

 _I pushed it even deeper, and only by then I saw blood coming away from that area. I was surprised. Am I really deflowering the empire's strongest? But somehow my heart was overjoyed as I have connected with her. We were one, and my subconsciousness told me how bad I have fallen for this woman._

 _I saw a tear rolling out of her eyes. I don't know what it was. Anger? Pain? Joy? Sadness? My mind was too preoccupied to think about it. Every move that I made was followed by her screaming out in pleasure. I was happy to see how she looked to be enjoying this, but it was not so long before she pulled me and rolled out, making her sitting on top of me while we were still connected together._

 _"My turn, darling… "_

 _And she violently moving up and down, grinding my meat with the softness and warmth of her. I could only enjoy this ecstatic feeling. The pleasure now ran through my veins, drilling to my spine._

 _"Esdeath, I can ….. No longer…. " I was trying my best to hold out. The pressure from her movement made me almost burst out of my limit. But it seemed she also could not hold it any longer. "Let's… come… together… darling", and that's the only word she said_

 _We released it out together, and she fell to me after. I embraced her, and we kissed again. This time, it was different. I could only feel love coming through. Love that had reshaped my heart so much that I know I would rather kill myself than killing her. Exactly as she said after those words echoed in my heart._

 _We fell asleep while hugging each other. That night I apologised to my comrades in my heart, since I can no longer face Esdeath Partas in this battle._

 _But everything changed when I woke up. She was earlier than me, and I could see her hunting danger beast like a hero she was. Her face painted with rage, sadism, and happiness while she tried to bring down the beast, back to Esdeath the Empire's Strongest that I met before. My heart hurt so much that I thought a tear was falling down from my eye. My heart was broken, longing for Esdeath Partas to come back._

* * *

"Tatsumi… TATSUMI! Wake up!"

Tatsumi got up confusedly. He was still on that dream when he heard Mine was screaming at him. A tear rolling down from his eye and his heart ached. But Mine looked so scared and with Sheele on her side. Sheele was also oddly afraid and didn't say any word either.

"What happened?", Tatsumi completely confused looking at his family. They never looked this worried before. He rose from the bed and approached them. "Where is Ester and Akame?", he asked them.

"SORA! Auntie Akame! Why are you standing with sword in your hands… Please… Stop!", he heard Ester's voice while he was slowly walking.

When he reached to the door, he was as shocked as the rest of his family. There in front of his eyes, he saw Akame holding Murasame in full battle position. Then he saw Ester standing with arms extended to her sides. But the most unexpected one was the woman standing in front of the door, holding an ice rapier. She looked furious.

He saw Esdeath, standing, and alive.

* * *

 **Yooo! How do you think about this chapter? It helped unveiling the fateful moment both have shared in this story, leading up to much more chapters ahead. Let me know your thoughts!**

 **And as always, till next week!**


	5. The Dillema

**Hellooo, come back with chapter 5 :)**

 **I'll be noisier at the end of the chapter, so do enjoy!**

* * *

Tatsumi could not believe what he saw. Esdeath in front of his eyes had changed drastically from the last time he saw her. She looked even paler than before, as white as snow that was raging outside. She was skinnier, even though her voluptuous figure was still perfectly printed beneath her clothes. Her hair was messy, not as silky as when he embraced her on that paradise before. She was no longer wearing her general attire, but rather a simple hunter outfit. What had been affecting Tatsumi much was that she was more resembling Esdeath that he loved than the empire's strongest.

"Tatsumi…", Esdeath looked to his eyes, but before Tatsumi responded, Akame shouted at her.

"What do you want! Go away and don't disturb Tatsumi", she said it angrily.

"Move Akame. This is between me and Tatsumi, I am in no mood to continue our last fight", to Akame surprise, Esdeath seemed to be uninterested in picking the fight.

"Esdeath…" Tatsumi could only utter this word.

"Who is Esdeath? Sora, what is happening?", Ester looked confused. Esdeath didn't respond her but instead she slowly walked toward Tatsumi. Mine was shivering when she approached, trying to collect her courage back. She then took out a knife that she had grabbed somewhere before while shouting to Esdeath, "Move away you devil! Don't touch Tatsumi and my daughter! Go or I will have to kill you!"

"SHUT UP! You have taken what is mine! You should be grateful that I have not taken your live after stealing Tatsumi from me and my child. Now move away or I will …. ", suddenly Esdeath fallen down before she could reach Tatsumi. But the later grabbed her when she was almost touching the floor.

Looking at this opportunity, Mine reacted quickly and tried to stab her out of her fear. Ester was screaming when she saw this, but suddenly Tatsumi and Akame blocked her from doing it.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING! I AM GOING TO ELIMINATE THE MOST DANGEROUS DEMON ON THIS EMPIRE!" Mine screamed her mind out that she felt so much betrayed. Both Tatsumi and Akame was protecting the woman she hated the most.

"But she.. Ester…" Tatsumi could not response to Mine's anger. Even he could not understand why he did that. Was it love that was still hiding in his heart?

"I simply want to repay her our debt, Mine" Akame replied her almost whispering. She could not bring herself to tell Mine directly, and instead whispering it almost like to herself.

"WHAT DEBT AKAME! I HAVE NEVER BEEN INDEBTED TO THIS EVIL", Mine was so frustrated. Ester hurried and hug her caretaker while crying. The atmosphere of that room was so grieve.

"I am sorry… I can't tell you our promise… ", Akame could only reply her while looking away.

Everyone in that room was crying for their own reason, beside Akame. Sheele was in tears out of fear. Mine was in tears of her frustration and angriness, feeling helpless that the person which arguably she hated the most was there but unable to do anything about it. Ester was crying looking at the only person that she cared about was laying unresponsively. Tatsumi was in tears for his guilt and his feeling. Akame was just standing idly and looking at them while lowering Murasame.

* * *

An hour pass with this grieving atmosphere. Sheele and Ester finally fell asleep after fighting her tiresome and fear. Mine had also fallen asleep after crying for the entire hour. Only Tatsumi and Akame were awake and they did not speak a word. Tatsumi rose and put Esdeath gently on the floor, before taking Sheele to his bed. He then picked up Mine and put her on the bed as well.

He carried Esdeath and laid her down on Sheele's room, together with Ester. Akame followed them to that room. Tatsumi sat still next to the bed while looking at Esdeath face. She looked to be in much suffering that Tatsumi could not help for another tear rolling down in his cheek. His heart was hurt, because he knew from that fated day, a part of his heart was already with this woman.

"Akame… What have I done?" Tatsumi broke the silence while still looking at Esdeath's face.

Akame didn't respond him, but instead she asked, "Did you know about her?", looking at Ester.

"I… I have the feeling right after I saw her, but I could not bring myself to that thought. Even I did not know that Esdeath is alive." He was also looking at her now.

The girl in question slept rather peacefully, turning and hugging her apparent mother. The view was truly a blessing for a normal happy family life, melting Tatsumi heart as he knew that the kid was indeed, his daughter. Ester's hair slowly turned back to blue, as the effect of the fruit that she ate worned out.

"But how could it happen? Did you two really conceive her somewhere along the time?" Akame was still looked puzzled.

Tatsumi didn't respond.

"You know, I dashed here because I found something in a cave near the capital. Something disturbing about them", she moved and sit next to Tatsumi.

"What is it?"

"Her general's attire, soaked in blood, and a cut umbilical cord, frozen in ice. It seemed that it has been left for years, but the cord was still good thanks to the ice. There is no one in the army to have this attire beside her, and there is no one in the world who can freeze that cord. And I have a feeling that she would not be having kids with any other man than you." Akame explained and quickly followed.

"What? How did you find it?"

"I don't know… I was just wondering around the forest near capital when I suddenly saw a cave. This cave was really disturbing me since I have never seen it before. I went inside and I saw an icicle that looked like a resting place, and those stuffs."

Tatsumi looked back to Esdeath. He could not imagine what have gone through this woman that it changed her physical form so much since the time when he saw her before. And then he asked her again, "Akame… What have I done?"

"I don't know Tatsumi… if she is really your kid… I don't know… I can't imagine how tomorrow will be", Akame honestly responded

"Do you… actually love her?"

"I…" Tatsumi could not answer it verbally. But it seemed both of them know the answer very well.

* * *

Night had passed and sun slowly rose up from the east horizon. The sound of the bird chirping around the snowy houses on the village was the only thing that they could hear this morning. Akame and Tatsumi didn't sleep at all, both are sunk in their own thought. Tatsumi spent the night stroking Ester's head, while sometimes exchanged with Esdeath's head. Only when it was already bright he came to his own room to check Mine and Sheele. He could not look into them, with much guilt filling his heart.

Slowly Mine woke up, with her eyes swollen. She saw Tatsumi and she said, "yesterday was nightmare, wasn't it? It must be… There is no way…" But tears again rolling down on her cheek.

Tatsumi didn't say anything, moving closer to her, trying to embrace her. But Mine rejected him, pushing him away from her and Sheele. "Don't come near me", she said in despair.

"Mine.. I..", Tatsumi could only say those words.

"Ester was not your child, right? Please Tatsumi… tell me that she was not your child with that witch", Mine asked with her whole heart, even though she knew the answer.

Tatsumi again, could not respond.

"ANSWER ME TATSUMI", she screamed, waking up Sheele.

"Daddy… Mommy… why are you guys screaming in the morning…", she looked really afraid now. This is the very first time she saw her parents quarrelling like that. Usually there won't be any scream, but now its different.

"Go out Tatsumi.. Before… Before… Before I am killing myself here", she was out of idea on how she asked him to leave. She hugged Sheele and looked dejected, again.

Tatsumi slowly walked out the room, feeling his heart also walked out of his life. He moved to Esdeath's room, only to see Ester woke up and trying to move Esdeath.

"Sora… Sora… wake up Sora… I am afraid…", she still didn't know Esdeath's real name.

Tatsumi approached her and about to hug her, but she moved away from him, looking at him with anger. "What did you do to Sora! Why she is not waking up now!"

"Es…. Sora was too tired, but she is okay Ester. She would be fine. I have also prepared a food for her when she wake up", Tatsumi tried his best to calm her and move closer to Ester. She didn't reject him anymore, but he could still see in her eye saying that he didn't have her complete trust.

Esdeath slowly woke up. She looked at Akame, before turning to Ester who are currently in Tatsumi's arm.

"My...", she smiled weakly, and hugged them together. Tatsumi was shocked and tried to back away, but her hands were weirdly strong given her state at the moment.

"I… Esdeath.. Stop.. I… I prepare some food for you", Tatsumi pleaded. She blushed when she heard Tatsumi had prepared a breakfast for her.

"Sora.. who is Esdeath?" Ester asked while hugging Esdeath in huge relief.

"It is… It is my real name… I will tell you the story later on" she hugged her back while stroking her head.

"Let's go to the middle room", Tatsumi slowly rose from the bed, nodding to Akame, and moved to the room outside. He could still hear Mine's crying faintly from their room, but he didn't have any courage to go there. Instead, he just put the food outside the room and told Sheele to bring it inside.

Esdeath looked to be much happier now and she ate her breakfast with full spirit. They sat in silence during the meal.

Tatsumi was looking at her and Ester for the whole time. When Esdeath noticed, she blushed a lot. Ester wondered how it could happen. She had never seen Esdeath showing this much of expression. She was usually cold, or just lightly smiling at her, but had never really been like this. Thousand of questions flew on her mind right now and she demanded explanation.

"Sora what was happening here? Why are you blushing? Why did you fight auntie Akame yesterday night? I was so scared…", Ester asking her impatiently.

Esdeath pat her on the head before saying, "You always want to know who is your parents, right?"

"What.. YES!", Ester forgot her earlier questions, but she looked to be more excited with Esdeath's question.

"Well, this is your father", she said while looking at Tatsumi.

Everyone beside Ester knew this fact already, but when they heard it directly from her mouth, they were still unable to accept what they heard.

Ester looked deeply astonished. she never thought about this possibility before. "No way…. Sheele's daddy?"

"Yes my daughter, you are our daughter", Esdeath looked at her with the eye that no one in that room have ever seen before. The eyes of loving mother looking at her precious daughter. Even Ester was puzzled looking at her. She was shocked with so many unexpected thing happened right now, and terrified by thinking about it.

Tatsumi and Akame were as surprised as Ester, not because of the words that she said, but the face that she made while telling Ester. Akame would never ever guess that Esdeath could make such lovingly smile. Tatsumi surprised because he saw the girl that he still love, again.

Suddenly Ester ran from the room to outside. Everyone else in the room was still in their own thought, but Esdeath was the fastest to react. She leaped outside the house following her daughter. Tatsumi was standing still, didn't know what to do. Part of his heart wanted to follow them, but the other part was unable to move, listening to the cries of his other family in his room.

"Akame… What should I do?", he was unable to decide, hoping that Akame would give her the best advice.

"Go… I will be here for Mine and Sheele. They are also your family now", she replied.

There was doubt in his face, but Tatsumi stood up and ran toward the exit. Akame could only follow him with her sight, until he was unseen. She sighed thinking what had just happened in a day.

It was just yesterday that they were a happy family. In an instant, they were torn apart and left in uncertainty. She closed the door and sat in the middle room, waiting for Mine to calm down.

* * *

Ester ran toward the forest. She could not apprehend what she had just heard. She didn't know what to do and just wanted to be alone. But she heard Esdeath was closing on her.

"Ester, stop!", Esdeath shouted from behind.

"Leave me alone! Don't come closer", she replied her while still running. Esdeath stopped and unable to believe what she just heard. This was the first time in four years that her daughter disobeyed her. Five years ago, she would just rip the person who even dare to speak back to her command. Now that this girl ordered her to stop, she just reactionally followed her.

"Where is she? Why are you just standing here?", Tatsumi looked tired after catching Esdeath. He grabbed Esdeath following the trail on the snow. "come on", he said.

Hours passed by and they were still trying to find Ester. The trail was gone when they entered the forest, so it took a long time for them to try to find her. The sun had set by the time when they found her laying in the snow. She seemed to be exhausted, and laying down sleeping.

Esdeath sat next to her, and bring Ester's head to her lap. She looked to be much relieved now they had found their daughter. Tatsumi followed her and sat opposite of them.

"She is pretty, isn't she?"

"Yes.. Esdeath, what happened? What happened to you… I thought you are already gone?" Tatsumi looked at her.

"I will always come back to you darling. You are mine and I am yours. Do you miss me?", she just replied those words.

"I... ", Tatsumi could not respond. He hated those words so much.

"Don't lie to me Tatsumi. I knew on that night when we made her, we are in love each other. It was my mistake to let you go, but I won't make it anymore. I had let you go three times, but there won't be anymore", she said this, making Tatsumi remember her past.

"I won't lie to you. I love the part of you that I have seen buried inside you. But I can't… I can't Esdeath… I can't love you the way you are. I can't love you when you are enjoying torturing the weak, killing for excitement, claiming me to be yours like I am your toy. I despise that part of you… But yes I love you too. And now that Ester is born..." Tatsumi couldn't look to her eyes while making his confession, but Esdeath was frozen hearing angry words from Tatsumi.

She didn't reply him. She was as much as conflicted as Tatsumi. They both sat on silence with the night started to fall.

* * *

 **Yey! So one of the secret finally revealed. Hope it built a good momentum toward next chapters :)**

 **I am a bit pissed off that the ending was not the sucker punch. But anyway, p** **lease leave your thoughts on the comment! I dunno if you guys think it was getting absurd or what T.T But i am determined to finish this story whatever it takes. So yeah, if you do have any suggestion or comments just leave a review, and ill do my best to answer or follow the suggestion.**

 **And... till next week!**


	6. The Hope

**Yey! Passed 10 reviews and double digit favorites!**

 **I hope I am not failed to entertain you with this story! Please give some comments or feedback if you have any input to improve it :)**

* * *

Mine had finally stopped crying after hours of doing so, while confused Sheele could only follow her mother lead to cry. Sun was almost set when she regained her calm. Her outside appearance looked to be alright, but inside, she was broken. Never she felt so much betrayed, knowing that the love of her life had a child with the woman that she despises the most.

She then saw the food that Tatsumi prepared for them this morning. She only wanted to throw it away, before giving up and realize that Sheele needed it more. She gave it to her and slowly moving to the middle room.

Akame still sat in silence, but noticed Mine when she passed their bedroom's door. She looked so much in despair, her screwed face and hair just emphasized how bad she was, soulless and lifeless. Akame approached her and hug her, slowly guiding her to the seat in the middle of the room. She then pulled out the meat that she has roasted before, knowing Mine had not eat anything since last night.

"You have never changed, Akame. Why did Tatsumi change?", she looked to the food while saying this.

"Tatsumi never changed Mine", Akame didn't have other answer to Mine's question.

"He did. He would never choose that demon over me. But now he did"

"He did not choose her over you, trust me", Akame tried to console her.

"But why he was not here, then?"

"..."

Silence went back to the room, but Mine tried to eat some of Akame's roast meat. It was good as always, but it tasted bitter for her.

"Mommy.. Where is daddy?", little Sheele came out of her room

Mine was about to respond Sheele, but Akame cut her. "Your father is away for a while, Sheele, don't worry about him. He should be back tomorrow", while glaring at Mine. Relieved, Sheele moved back to her room.

"What are you doing Akame! Let me tell her, so she knows what kind of father his daddy is!", Mine looked angrily to Akame. Suddenly Akame slapped her in the face.

"What are YOU doing? Do you want your child to hate her father?", Akame tried to reason her.

"YES. I WANT HER TO", Mine looked even angrier now.

"And what would she get? Don't let your despair crushing your child's life", Akame responded her.

"She is my child! Why would you even care!"

"Because I have taken her as my child too! I don't want my child to live in hatred! And for the worse part, hatred for her father! Do you want her to live like Esdeath?"

"Esdeath is not fired up by hatred! She was just maniac who likes to kill and torture people for no reason"

"And what would people filled with hatred be different with that?"

Mine didn't respond it

"I know you are feeling betrayed by him, but I trust in Tatsumi too. We know him very well, he is a loving person who would not just betray you left and right. You have lived for so long with him, do you think his love to you is not real?", Akame followed as she knew she had the higher ground now.

Mine tear came down again, but then she said, "I know he loves me. He loves me and Sheele from the deepest part of his heart. But I don't know if he loved me with his whole heart"

Akame could not reply this one, she then sunk in the couch again and starring in the blank. She knew the answer, but the answer would just deepen the scar on Mine's heart.

* * *

"I will find us food to eat. Stay here with her"

Tatsumi broke the silence as he stood up. Esdeath was still sitting and comforting her child, looked to be exhausted with everything that had just happened.

Tatsumi's word was the sharpest sword that had ever stabbed her heart. When he left her behind, she felt the pain. The pain was so hurting for her that she despised the weakness she had because of this love. But Tatsumi's honest confession was not just hurting her heart, more like torturing her soul. There was only a little hope when he said that he was indeed loving her, for a side that she didn't really recognise anymore.

"Tatsumi… You really have changed me… I am weak now… but I want to be weak as long as I can be with you", without her knowing, a tear rolling down from her eye.

Luck was not in Tatsumi's side. The last meal he had was the breakfast and he barely had any energy left to go hunting. Instead of finding a small animal, he met a group of bandit. There were three of them, and everyone held a weapon. Tatsumi on the other hand was only holding a small knife.

"Wow guys! Looks like we are going to have an easy prey", said the bandit in the middle. He looked like a middle aged man with a muscular build. HIs head is bald but he had a majestic beard that reminded Tatsumi to the deceased prime minister.

"Finally! We had nothing today, but this guy seemed to be our lucky charm", the man on his left grinned, he was in his twenties but didn't look as fit as their leader. He wore a green bandana on his head.

"We would be easy on you, young man. Just leave everything behind, and we will not harm you. Oh! Do you have a wife, anyway? You can also bring us to them, heheheh", the last man, who is also in his twenties, was mocking him.

Tatsumi was not in the mood to play around. He charged the group as fast as he could. But he had not much left and his blow was really slow, easily dodged by the group. The second man with green bandana punched Tatsumi on his back, bringing him down.

"ARGH!" Tatsumi groaned in pain, he could barely move at that moment.

"I told you to obey us, now you see what happened, right?", the other young bandit grab Tatsumi's head and looked at his face. The guy then punch him on the face, leaving Tatsumi almost unconscious.

"Enough, just grab everything on his body and lets leave", the leader said. He wanted to do it quickly and came back to his lair, since it was already night.

"Boss, we could have more fun! Look! He wore a ring, he must have a pretty wife", the guy who was asking for Tatsumi's wife found his answer.

"Jackel, stop playing around", the leader looked uninterested.

The guy with the green bandana kicked Tatsumi again. This time, he screamed for the pain.

"Nage, stop it! Let's finish it and come back home!", this time the leader started to be angry.

"Fine boss, huh old geezer", and the younger bandits started to search for Tatsumi's body.

They kept messing around with Tatsumi, but that was actually their mistake. Suddenly they felt another presence in the premises. They turned around, and they saw Esdeath was standing with cold stare.

"Wow! Is this the little mongrel's wife? Oh my God! Sweety, we can have so much fun with you", Jackel was drooling when he saw her.

"Boss… don't ask me to skip this one", Nage also looked at her with raping eyes.

This time, their boss also agreed. This woman in front of their eyes was thousand times more beautiful than any woman that they have forced to satisfy them. Even though she looked a bit too messy, her beauty was really standing out, enough for the three guys to forget anything else.

"Es…." Tatsumi said in the middle of his groans

"What did you guys do to my mate?", she said calmly. But her voice was enough to shake those three's legs. She stared on the eye at each of them, and their knees was unable to hold to pressure, made them to kneel to her.

"We… sorry… Let… Let us go…", the leader knew that they were in deep trouble now.

Suddenly three icicle dashed forward the right leg of each bandits. They screamed in pain when it pierced through their flesh. Tatsumi could not speak anymore but he knew what she was going to do

"How dare you…", Esdeath summoned another three icicles, and it went deep to each of the bandit's another leg.

"ARGHHHHHH", they screamed again in the pain.

"Ice…. are you… the famous Ice Queen?" the leader of the bandit suddenly realised who they were just messing around with. He knew about Empire's Strongest, a woman with Blue hair that could make even the strongest warrior to tremble in fear.

"I am Esdeath, and you dare to mess around with me?", she said with the vicious stare to them.

The bandits were pissing themselves. They have heard about the hobby of the Ice Queen, torturing people with unimaginable methods that would make them feel the worst pain for the longest they can.

"Go"

"What?", The bandits were unable to believe what they just heard.

"Go, before I changed my mind. Leave everything you have. I won't repeat"

They felt that they just got the biggest lucky draw ever. Groaning in their pain, they left everything behind. They ran as fast as they could, though the pain was so deep that made them crying.

Fortunately, they left some food behind. It was not much, but it should be enough for the trio to eat. She grabbed Tatsumi and brought him back to their initial place. Tatsumi was already unconscious by the time she held him and brought him back in bridal style.

It was not so far away from where Tatsumi met the bandits. Esdeath laid him down on the snow. He looked to be freezing now, especially he didn't have anything to cover. The cold was nothing for Esdeath and her daughter, but Tatsumi was not them and he suffered a lot right now.

Ester woke up not so long after, and he looked at them.

"Mommy… daddy…", that were the first words she said.

Esdeath shocked hearing these words. Even the coldest heart on earth melt hearing this word, from one of the person she cared the most. Another tear rolling down on her cheek and she hug Ester tightly.

"Yes daughter…"

And they stayed for a while before eating their food.

* * *

Everything has gone back to normal in Tatsumi's house. Sheele was sleeping in her room now, tired from everything that had just happened today. Akame was still sitting accompanying Mine. Mine was no longer crying, not that she didn't want to, but she just could not do it anymore.

"Akame, do you miss the Night Raid's day?", she asked Akame.

"Why would you ask so? Hmm.. I missed everyone though, it's true", Akame still sat and deep on her own thinking.

"I felt so lonely now. Back then we had everyone else to cheer each other when someone was gone. I remember the day we lost Sheele. All of us were in despair. But I have Tatsumi, you, Leone, Boss, Lubbock, Bulat to cheer me up. Now I only have you"

"That's why I am here, to back each other up, right?"

"I don't understand why Tatsumi fell in love with that woman. Did she use some trick? Or magic?", Mine was depressed and trying her best to find a reason.

"You know, Tatsumi is a nice guy. He could easily make people fallen in love with him. But maybe he was attracted to something different… I don't know Mine…"

Mine was deep in her thought.

"But I know he loved you so much, from his deepest heart", Akame followed

"Do you think Tatsumi will come back?"

"I am sure Mine. He won't leave you behind. He won't leave any of his loved ones behind", Akame hug her.

"I can't forgive that woman. She was the reason why our family dead. Bulat died on her subordinate's hand. Sheele too…."

Now Akame didn't respond

"Can you ever forgive that woman?"

"I have no choice other that doing so…", Akame released her and looked on other direction.

"You keep saying this. What on earth has actually happened?", Mine looked so dejected and unable to understand Akame.

"First, the lost we have is because of war. I have lost many friends before, though I must admit that they were not as close as you guys to me. But war is war, and we are fighting knowing that we can lose what we hold dear in our life. Including our families. We have also killed many people on their side, and if we take war into personal matters, it would never end…"

Mine was just silent

"Second, she did something for the future, outside of the war. She did that knowing that she would hardly get anything in return. That was the debt that I could not just pass by and I have sworn to myself to honour that…"

"Brak!"

Suddenly, they hear something was hitting the door. It was almost 10 on the night, and their muscle strengthened hearing that. Akame hold her murasame, and slowly opening the door. When she opened it, Tatsumi fell down to the floor.

"TATSUMI!"

* * *

 **Hey yo!**

 **Thanks for accompanying me through this amazing ride! The next three chapters might be released in a close time interval, since it would be kind of flash backs to reveal more of the background of this story! It's an exciting part, and I am really happy while writing those chapters :)**

 **Please do leave comment if you would like to voice out! Thanks and as always, till next week!**


	7. The Past (I)

**Hello!**

 **Glad to be back! Now we are entering the next part, which is a flashback :) Hope it could give a more colourful plot to the story! Please leave your thoughts of comment, and.. please enjoy!**

* * *

Esdeath was walking away slowly from Tatsumi's village. She had made her mind to go away and live the life that she always know. Ester will grow up as strong as she is. But as she was walking, everything that happened for this 4 years flashed back to her mind.

* * *

 _It was a month after the empire collapsed. The revolutionary army had taken the government seat and Najenda took the prime minister position. The aftermath of the war was a disaster, as had been expected. Many villages around the capital was plunged down from the rage of_ _Shikoutazer. But weirdly, the forest west of the capital was spared. It seemed it was not taking many attention from the former emperor and therefore missed from the destruction._

 _Esdeath limped while wandering around the forest. She had almost no energy left and could barely walk anymore. She looked around and noticed that she had been deep enough in the forest. She then sat down, trying to catch her breath. Bloods were still flowing from many parts of her body, further weakened the empire's strongest._

 _Feeling that she was safe where she was, she closed her eyes. She was too tired to even think about food. The best thing that she wanted to happen was to die. She was too ashamed to continue living after being beaten. Only the weak would have been beaten, and now she joined the group that she always despised._

" _I must revenge my defeat. If I kill myself here then I am just one of those weaklings who could not revenge their defeat. I swore to you Akame, I will revenge this shame. Just wait for me", her mind spoke as she closed her eyes._

 _The wound from her last battle was severe. Any normal person would have died long long time ago. But she was different, inhuman from the very beginning. Her strength helped her to last for days, and she could actually sleep and recover withstanding the damages she had._

 _The sun was still high when she woke up. She didn't know how long she had passed out, but without doubt it was at least for a couple of days. Her stomach complained violently as she had not feed it for so long. She grabbed anything closest to her to eat. Luckily, there was some plants that could save her day, even for just a little bit._

 _Esdeath slowly rose up and looked around. She could only see trees as far as her sight. She headed west, extending the distance from capital. While walking around, suddenly she felt something wrong with her stomach. She threw up couple times before it stopped. It seemed the plant she ate was not the best dish for her health, but she couldn't care less about it._

 _Not so long after that, she found a boar wandering alone. She grinned and started to prepare her attack._

 _She didn't want to grab attention, so she summoned small icicle to deal with the boar. She was surprised the icicle seemed to be much weakened than what she used to create. Fortunately, it was enough to take down the boar in one strike. She pulled her legs to the boar, starting to cut it with an ice rapier. The rapier broke off when it hit the bone of the boar._

" _What was happening.. Why did my ice started to weaken so much?", the question bothered her, but her stomach was a bigger annoyance. She took whatever she could and started to prepare the food. Smell of finely roasted meat spread around the fire she made._

 _Her hunger was only satisfied after she finished almost the whole boar. It could fed more than 10 people, but she finished it swiftly. By the time it was done, the sun had set and the forest had been engulfed with the darkness. She felt the weariness and she soon fell back to sleep as she could not hold it._

* * *

 _Esdeath was awaken by the loud noises around her. She opened her eyes and saw some small humanoid creatures surrounding her. She took more attention and then realized it was a group of forest monkey. She tried to move her hands to drive them away, but only to find her hands were tightly tied. She used all of her power trying to rip of the thing that tied he. Minutes she tried, and then she found the rope was really resilient. She tried for couple more times before giving up. Even she tried to use her teigu, but strangely nothing was came out._

" _You bastards! I will make you pay for all of this!", with a vicious smile she thought about this. She emitted a monstrous killing intent while the monkeys kept toying with her hair, pulling it down to create an annoying pain all over her head. Soon after they started to carry her moving to somewhere else._

 _The group walked for hours before reaching another part of the forest. It was much darkened even though the sun was still shining above. They crossed a little pond with a refreshing water where they stopped. The monkeys played in the water while Esdeath helplessly being tied on hands and ankles. She was deep in her own thought, wondering where these monkeys came from and who their master was._

 _They moved deeper to the forest where it was hazy and full with bushes, before finally arrived in front of a cave. This cave's entrance was not big in size, but turned out to be quite deep when they dragged her inside. They reached the end of the cave after almost half an hour crawling while she was carried like a wood log._

 _There was not much light coming inside at the end of the cave. It was a bit larger than the cave mouth, but still not big enough for a group of monkey carrying Esdeath. She had a tall posture compared to other woman and it easily made the room felt like a sauna. She noticed something has really changed on her body, since she had never felt hot temperature after having the demon extract. This was her first time to feel warmness from the atmosphere, again._

 _Esdeath saw there was another figure in the room, which seemed to be the leader of this group. It was another monkey, but looked to be far stronger and bigger than the rest of the group. The fur was golden and somehow radiate the feeling of dominance and power. She hated it and felt it was more like a challenge upon her own domination and aura._

 _The leader grabbed her hair and looking at her with face full of lust. It then ordered the monkey group to lay her down in a table made of flattened stone._

" _Touch me, monkey, and I will make you suffer the worst death", she swore loudly. She didn't feel fear, but more like disgust. She would not let anyone else to enter her, let alone a monkey._

 _Though the mind was strong, her body betrayed her. This is the first time she felt so helpless, so weak that she could not even kill the pathetic being that was readying itself to ravage her. She felt weakness before, when she saw her father died, when she was with Tatsumi, but never physically._

 _The monkey leader stripped her naked, with eyes full of desire. Esdeath kept swearing curse for the monkey, but none seems to bother it._ _She prepared for the worst, but then suddenly the monkey stopped. It looked like it had lost its interest, right before it stained her._ _The monkey leader then made the worst mistake it could do. It opened her rope and turned it back from her. In an instant, Esdeath could use her ice again and its head was separated from its body._

" _How dare you do that to me… Only my Tatsumi is allowed", she said that with sadistic grin._

 _She came out of the cave to find the monkey groups were still there. Not for long though. Ten minutes after, the field became a massacre party where she killed them all._

 _Satisfied after revenging the monkeys, she sat down near the cave entrance. Looking at the aftermath of her massacre usually gave her pure joy and pleasure. But it didn't this time. She felt sick again and threw up couple times._

" _What happened with me?..."_

 _She was used to live alone since her tribe was wiped out until she joined the military. Never once she felt lonely. But this time was different for her. Her soul longing for her Tatsumi and sitting alone on the forest made her missed him so much._

" _Tatsumi, you really have changed me", she sighed._

 _Hours after sitting alone, Esdeath decided to take a look on the inside of the cave. The air was well circulated, making it suitable for living place. The light from outside was also just right, not too bright and not too dimmed. She decided to live in this place for a while, then coated the table where she was almost raped before with a thin layer of ice, giving it more comfortable surface to sleep. Then she took another rest, trying to pass the day without thinking about her beloved Tatsumi._

 _Esdeath woke up well rested in the following morning. With full spirit she cleaned up the area surrounding the cave, from any danger beasts or its corpses. She usually didn't bother with this stuffs, but lately she has became clean freak. She wondered though, but as she usually followed her heart for these matters, the worry passed away quickly._

 _She took a bath on the little pond. Playing with the water reminded her the time when she and Tatsumi was on the beach. The first intimate experience she had ever had. It was vivid in her mind. Her face went strawberry thinking about it. The pleasure was so intriguing, and she started to touch herself out of blue. She moaned, again, after such a long time._

 _After one hour of taking bath and pleasing herself, her stomach complained since it was past mid day already. She hunt for danger beasts, reminding her the time of the past when she still lived in the wild. Somehow she found joy in doing it, much different from being a general where most of the fun came when she was either torturing or killing people. Her heart felt much better than doing so._

" _Tatsumi… what are you doing, darling?", again, her heart screamed missing the other part._

 _Day by day passing by, and it was already a month since she came. Everyday passed without any extraordinary thing to happen. Waking up, going to the pond, hunting, sitting around, practicing a bit, going to the pond again, and then hunting again, before ending the day with sleeping. She was bored. She wanted to go out._

 _She finally decided to move from the forest, to find her Tatsumi back. Lately she had lost the fun and excitement from doing any activities that gave her pleasure in her older days. She made up her mind to seek for her love, the only one who could fuel her life back. Maybe it was good to find Akame too, to revenge the defeat?_

 _But it seemed that life had another plan for her. Couple meters from the cave, she met with a wolf and its cub, playing around in the forest. Looking at them, she blushed, and the thought of her, Tatsumi, and their child playing together came to her mind. She remembered her childhood memories when she played with her father. If only her mother was there to make it three of them together._

 _Suddenly a click came to her mind. "Could it be…? It was five months after our sex at the beach… that would be, the perfect timing?" Her face turned red, and she lost in her fantasies. But she decided to come back to the cave, she wanted to wait for another month to confirm her intuition. She was not really familiar with this thing, not knowing any reason why she didn't get her period for months already._

 _It was not easy at all. Everyday, her belly was getting bigger. It was difficult to move freely, but she was convinced that she was pregnant now. After another month, the life was much harder for her. She could not do any danger beast hunting as it was too much burdening for her belly. Now she could only find vegetables to eat, or if she was lucky, some animals that was not dangerous to catch._

 _Her old self would have been so disgusted with how weak and helpless she was, but surprisingly she was excited with her condition. She was expecting her child, her child with Tatsumi. She had never been as happy as this, though she was on much worse condition that what she usually was._

 _When it came to her late pregnancy, life was miserable for her. The feared general now lived alone, could hardly move and seemed to be a wild tribe slave. Her general attire was already broken, still stained with the blood from her last battle, and she just left in on the cave. She found some animal earlier that she skinned before to wear._ _Pain came and went by so frequently, that laying in the bed was never been so uncomfortable in her life. Even so, smile was on her face every single day, waiting for the baby to come out._

 _The day she waited the most finally came. On a rainy night, she fought by herself to give birth to her beloved child. She almost felt that she had died when she finally heard the baby's cry. A beautiful baby girl, with green eyes just like her father. Tears rolling down from her face. Tears that had never seen the world since her father died, now lashed out from its place freely. She hold the baby on her hands, cutting the cord, and then hug the baby for so long, accompanied by the sound of the baby's cry._

" _What should be your name, my daughter? I want you to have my name and Tatsumi name… hmmm… Es… Esta…. Ester! That is a beautiful name, right?"_

 **I felt a bit weird with this chapter. Maybe, too forced?**

 **Anyway, hope it kept you entertained, and as always... till next week!**


	8. The past (II)

**hi again!**

 **Sorry I couldn't bring this chapter sooner, but I am excited since these flashback chapters will be a good intermezzo for the climax! Hope you enjoy the story, and leave some thoughts or comment.**

 **answering some question:**

 **temp0g: honestly I thought that part was also kind of ruined things. I havent got time to rewrite it, but I opted it won't f**d up much... and Tatsumi was not really weak. It was just at that given time he had a bad circumstances, like had not eaten for a long time etc.**

 **Ehh and also shoutout to my loyal reader shadowlord! Thanks for the comments, and those who I could not answered yet. I hope I keep you entertained. Now without a further ado, please enjoy!**

* * *

 _Time passed quickly when nobody put attention on it. Esdeath was not the one, at least after having her kid. She had forgotten about anything else beside taking care of her daughter. She was the substitute of her heart's missing part which Tatsumi had stolen before. The days she passed was blissful, the happiest she could expect to happen to her._

 _Ester grew as a healthy girl. She never cried after she could walk. She merrily run around the forest on her playtime. Her mother could only smile watching her growing as she wanted her to be, strong and pride woman as herself was._

 _The kid never knew who she really was. She didn't want the name of her mother gave the kid a hard life at the moment, not while she was weak. Instead, she said to her that she was only her caretaker, asked by her parents to watch over her while they were away._

 _The old and prideful Esdeath would never tolerate this cowardice. But her motherly instinct knew pride was simply one of the biggest threat for her still weak child. A lot of people hated her and would be happy to do anything they could to hurt her as revenge. Smart would be better than prideful at this moment, at least that was what her heart told her to do._

 _Esdeath taught her kid as how her father taught her. She taught her how to hunt from the very young age. Little Ester was more than talented to do it, and she could hunt her own non danger beast prey alone when she was three._

 _Live seemed to be perfect for Esdeath and her daughter, and she wanted it to stay for much longer. But she knew it would not be possible. Not after Ester started to ask her the most difficult question to answer._

" _Sora.. where is my parents?", Ester kept asking her this question, at least once a day._

 _She always managed to convince her with her own answer, but the question reopened the wound on her heart. The image of herself, Tatsumi, and their kid living a normal happy family life was bugging her peaceful mind. She would cook for them, Tatsumi would hunt and play with their daughter, while their kid grew as a beautiful girl. Just by thinking about this was enough to finally made her mind to find Tatsumi, to find her unsatisfied happiness._

 _But the question was, where should she look for him?_

* * *

 _Their journey started not so long after. Esdeath brought her kid to the capital, the best place to find any information about Tatsumi. The walk was long, almost a month, before they reached the end of the forest that was connected to the capital. She looked at Ester and realised how dangerous their appearance was. Anyone who were at the capital 4 years ago would know who she was and her daughter would be in trouble in no time._

 _And she did one thing that she didn't want to do the most; cut her hair short. Then she covered it with some colouring that she could find in the forest._

 _Now she looked different from the empire's strongest._

 _Esdeath walked to the capital gate. She could jump off the wall easily, but it was out of option now she brought Ester with her._ _"Uh... it will be much easier if I was as strong as before...". Yes, if she was as strong as before, she would not mind about storming to the cities. Now she was not even sure if she could hold the entire army by herself and protected her daughter together._

" _You, stop!", said a guard on the gate._

 _Her muscle stiffened instantly, ready to get rid those soldiers before they troubled them._

" _Do you have any paper?", the guard followed._

 _She sighed in relief and replied the guard as fast as she could, "No, sir.. we are from a village far away from here. I wanted to bring my daughter to see the capital."_

 _Unexpectedly, the guard did not ask her many more question and just let her go. It seemed the guards were new and might not have a good idea about the story of the Ice Queen._

 _The capital have changed much since the way it was. The peoples' face illustrated how happy they were. The war was over, and now they could worry about the normal life again instead of being cautious about enemies' attack. The streets were much merrier with chatter and laugh. She remembered that most of them were walking in gloomy face, but now, they were running with hopeful face._

" _So.. you did well, huh?", that was the only response she could say. She couldn't care less about this people. Her mind was resolved for her kid alone._

 _Her head turned to Ester. She looked thrilled by meeting a lot of people. She ran to the market and stop by a merchant._

" _Hello little missy, how are you today?"_

" _Hello mister! Nice to meet you! This is my first time coming to the capital!", she smiled while saying this. Esdeath looked at her smile with screaming heart. The smile. Tatsumi smile._

" _Well then consider this is your lucky day! Here take some of the apples!"_

" _Thank you mister", she said politely. She never really been taught about social interaction in general, but it seemed Tatsumi's blood was more dominant and she understood the manner quickly._

 _She ran back toward her mother. Esdeath noticed that they were a centre of attention now that they worn weird jungle outfit._

" _Ester let's go, we need to find some change"_

" _Hmm ..?", she followed her mother while eating the apple._

 _She found some local store and stole some clothes there before changing quickly. The kid was just looking confusedly, didn't understand the concept of stealing and buying._

" _Why do you have to go silently? Can't you just ask for the clothes?", she asked and Esdeath had to teach her for a while._

 _She wanted to start gathering information, but the only best place she could do was the slums, where informants would sell any piece of informations for a pint of beer. But the problem was, she didn't even have any money!_

" _Maybe I could kidnap one, and use my speciality to get some information," she thought._

 _But she looked at her daughter, and the thought dispersed quickly. "I don't want her to see it", she made her mind._

 _Esdeath took the step that she had never taken before. She did bounty for a lot of danger beast to earn money, little by little. Sometimes she laughed remembering how much money she had before, now she had nothing to stay live and get information that she needed._

 _A week passed and she had started to go to the drinking pub for at least couple days. No information she could get, as many of them did not even know who Tatsumi was. Another week passed and again, no sign that she would have any luck. She started to give up and prepare to start searching on the other place._

 _When she walked out of the pub, a pair of eye was following her from the shadow._

" _Ester, let's just go from here", she said to her kid._

" _Why Sora? You said you want to find my parents here. I don't mind staying here, it is much more fun than in the forest!"_

" _Yes, but I didn't have any useful information here. Maybe we should go to other place", she answered. The kid didn't respond, but just nodded to her._

 _As they were walking in a narrow and empty street, Esdeath felt another presence in the premise. This one was not an ordinary presence, but a properly concealed one. It seemed to be one of the trained spy that used to hide their appearance while doing mission. She was interested with this unknown guest and decided to slow down their pace. The spy was also slowing down, but in an instant, Esdeath now where he was._

 _As quickly as usual, she dashed toward the unfortunate man. Her knee shoved the man on his stomach, and before he could react, her right wand was choking his neck. The spy tried to scream for help, but it was futile now her left hand covered his mouth. Ester looked afraid with how hostile Esdeath was in just a second._

" _Why are you following us?", no friendliness on her tone._

" _Our.. Our boss asked us to spy on you. We know who you are", knowing about the lady who held his neck, the spy told her without second thinking._

" _Who is your boss?", the tension was higher now._

" _I.. I can't tell you", and a smack came to the side of his face._

" _Sora!", Ester screamed and surprised._

 _Esdeath almost lost her mind to her past self, but Ester's scream brought her back to her calmer side._

" _What do you and your boss want?", she said with a vicious tone now._

" _He wants to meet you", but when he said that, he looked to Ester._

 _Another smack came to his face. This time three teeth was flying from the spy's mouth. Esdeath was beyond angry when he tilted his eyes to her daughter. "Why are you looking at my daughter?"_

 _Groaning, the spy replied her, "our boss wants to meet you alone, without her"_

" _If your boss wants to meet me, then he will meet me with her. Or he can forget about it at all"_

 _The spy was silent for couple of minutes, before then nodded in agreement with Esdeath. He slowly limped back to the main road, followed by the mother and the daughter._

 _They walked for almost an hour before finally stopped in front of a bookstore. The spy went inside followed by Esdeath and her daughter. The store was empty and no one was attending the shop._

 _He then reached a certain rack full of book, pressed some books in random order, and finally they heard "click" sound. The rack moved a bit and the spy made a gesture to let Esdeath move to the other side of the rack._

 _Her muscle stiffened again, ready to do whatever necessary to protect her and Ester. She walked while Ester was hugging one of her leg. They moved closely, but few steps after going inside the rack, another "click" sound was heard and they were in total darkness._

" _Shit! I should not let my guard so low", she hated the fact that her mind was so focused on finding information about Tatsumi and forgot about these details. Now she had endangered her daughter._

 _Before she decided to do anything, there was another click sound and she could see a light coming through at the end of the corridor she was walking in. With full caution she walked toward the light and pushed the door that was slightly opened._

 _The room behind the door was well lit. It was not a big room, but there was a desk and chairs in both side of the desk, facing each other._

 _There sit her nemesis, her former general comrade, the leader of Night Raid, Najenda._

* * *

" _Welcome, Ice Queen",_

" _Najenda"_

 _She was standing near the door, looked fiercely to Najenda. She didn't change a lot from their last meeting, but looked a bit older now. She was sitting while inhaling the smoke from her cigarette, looking down to files that was taking her attention before her guest came through the door in front of her._

" _I thought you are a person who honour a deal", Najenda looked back to Esdeath with a mocking smile._

" _I honour the deal, but situation change, just like the old times. I had a friend who was betraying her oath for empire's loyalty, just because situation changed"_

" _I believe that person did that since the situation was grieving, and change was necessary. She must be siding for the good, and it seemed her action was justified and correct"_

" _Exactly, now I have been in the same situation with that friend of us"_

 _Najenda sighed. "What do you want? Why are you asking about Tatsumi?"_

" _It is clear, right? Two person in love to each other should be reunited"_

" _Sadly he was never yours"_

" _Oh no, Najenda, he is, and always is! Now stop wasting my time and let me know where he is", her tone changed as she was fed up with rhetoric._

" _I won't tell you, not that I see there was no importance at all for you to know where he is."_

 _Suddenly Esdeath jumped toward her. But before she could reach the silver haired prime minister, she was forced to jump back as hundreds of arrows marched towards her._

" _Huh, coward"_

" _Cautious, my friend. We know from our past"_

" _I can still hurt you from here"_

" _With that girl clinging on your side?"_

 _Esdeath shocked and now remember she was here with Ester. The kid looked scared. Not afraid, but scared that the only person she knew almost died._

" _Move, Ester"_

" _But… Sora...", she replied_

" _I said, Move! Don't make me repeat my words", this was the first time she became stern with her daughter. Ester did not respond, stay still on where she was._

" _You looked confident, huh? You know why they gave me my title, right?"_

" _Yeah, you are strong, but you are also smart. Looked closer. I promised you this time it will be safe"_

 _Esdeath move closer and finally saw that it was not Najenda who was standing there, but a shadow of her. Some kind of projection._

" _What is this?" now she was curious about it._

" _Another teigu, quite useful for a minister to hold meeting", she grinned._

 _Esdeath went hostile again and about to go rampage on that room before Najenda said, "don't do stupid things. I am your best chance to meet Tatsumi, and I won't fancy a second meeting. If you broke that, then you would never meet him"_

" _Like I care with your threat, I can just get in to the palace and take your fucking head"_

" _Oh… can you? Not so sure about it. You are much weakened now, no longer the damn threat as before. If you are as strong as you were, you would not bother to go through the gate and act like a kitten finding information on the streets. And I would not risk the empire's safety to let you roamed freely. Now control yourself, before you lose your only chance"_

 _Esdeath hated it, but she knew the truth behind those words._

" _What do you want?", she started to think another way to get everything from Najenda._

" _First, I want to talk with you. Just with you. There is a weird looking cap at the table to cover the kid's ears and eyes. She won't hear or see anything with that"_

" _Huh how should I trust you. It can harm her in away that I did not know", she looked skeptical._

" _Interesting, to think the Ice Queen would finally give a damn to someone else. You have my word. We know each other; I trust your word, and you have always trusted mine."_

 _She was full with doubt, but knowing what she could have, she decided to follow Najenda. The cap was neatly stored inside the drawer. It was really weirdly shaped, with the front side of the cap extending all the way to cover the nose. On the side of the cap, there were parts that function as ear muffs. She checked it thoroughly, moving it and tossing it, before finally put it on Ester._

" _Sora, why do I need to use this?", she didn't seem to be excited about wearing it._

" _Let's… just follow that lady instruction for now, shall we?", and no more complain followed._

 _Esdeath looked back toward Najenda's image. She could not really believe that it was just a projection. She tried to reach her but her hand went through the body. The image was just so vivid and anyone who saw them would not guess that it was just an image._

" _Okay I have put that cap to her, what do you want to talk?", she seemed to be impatient._

" _First thing first, is that kid your daughter?", Najenda straight to her biggest question._

 _Esdeath looked irritated. Najenda was one of the people that she really didn't want to know about her kid. She knew they were technically still enemies, and revealing her identity would only expose her weakness. She was unsure now what to answer her._

" _Why should it matter?"_

" _If she is who I think she is, that I might want to help"_

" _Fine. Yes she is my daughter"_

" _But that eyes…. Damn it. Is she Tatsumi's daughter with you?", Najenda looked uncomfortable now._

" _Are you insulting me old hag? You know my love is only for Tatsumi. He is the only one that I would let to touch me, of course she is my daughter!", her tone was raising._

 _Najenda was silence for a while. She looked like to be in deep thinking._

" _Did you… rape him? Yes.. it must be the case"_

" _I really want to kill you now…" she looked to be about to burst, "No Najenda, we love each other. I won't be so much in disgrace to rape him. You know my pride won't allow me to do it."_

" _Tsk…", Najenda still was not looking at her, but it seemed that she accepted those words._

" _C'mon Najenda, I want my kid to know her father"_

" _But… I can't tell you… I know you, and I know how Tatsumi lives now. You will just destroy his happiness", Najenda hesitated and looked away._

" _What are you talking about? Tatsumi would be happy to live with me and our daughter. Heck, he didn't even know he has a daughter now. Do you want to hurt him?", she wanted to start mind game with Najenda. But Najenda responded in a way she was not expecting._

" _But what if Tatsumi has his own family now? Has his own wife and child? Or maybe children?", she seemed to expect an answer._

 _Esdeath's face was paler now. She never thought about this possibility. She never dreamed Tatsumi would be marrying other woman, having kids, and live a happy life far from her. Her heart ached thinking about this, her eye glazed, and she bowed her head. Najenda was surprised, but Esdeath did not look._

" _What would you do?", Najenda tried to push her._

" _I… I… will let him to decide", she replied without looking._

" _How could I trust you that you won't kill his family, and take him for yourself?"_

 _Esdeath became angry now, "I love him, Najenda. If I do that, do you think he will ever forgive me? I have had enough of that experience. If he didn't want me, then I will go, and let our daughter now that his father no longer wants her", she said this with bitter smile._

 _This time, Najenda smiled bitterly hearing her answer. She was convinced, but she wanted to put the last test._

" _Fine. I will tell you. But before I do that, bow to me. Kneel and put your forehead on the ground."_

 _Esdeath almost bursted out of her anger. Never in her life she did that, beside to the former emperor that she served and sworn to protect. Now her enemy wanted her to kneel?_

" _F*CK YOU! ARE YOU TOYING WITH ME? MY PATIENCE HAS A LIMIT NAJENDA", and suddenly the table was broken with her ice. It seemed it grew stronger with her emotion at that moment. With that, Najenda image became blurry._

" _I told you, don't do anything reckless. Now this won't have much more time to last. Made your decision. Look at your child"_

 _She glanced at Ester, and now it was simply one of the hardest time that she have to decide. The mighty Esdeath had always have the people to kneel to her, never herself had to do it for other. Everyone should follow her, unconditionally. Now she was ordered to do the thing that would hurt her pride a lot._

 _Her old self would never allow it. But when she looked at Ester, her heart melt and her face changed. She took the decision._

 _She kneeled._

 _Najenda was no more surprised. This merely just to confirm her judgement. Now she knew. Watching her for the past two weeks was enough to convince her that the blue haired lady had changed a lot. She didn't resort to violence, yet asking the information in a proper way. Not just being smart to leave out of unnecessary battle, but truthfully changed as a person._

" _Go to the north. Near the city of Ashka, you will find Tatsumi's old village. It was not a big village, but it was secluded from other settlements. You should be able to find where he is now."_

 _Esdeath screamed happily like a little girl got her prize for being a good girl. Najenda could only smile seeing her that way. Maybe this was the better decision after all. She would have less thing to worry about when rebuilding the country as well._

 _She ran toward Ester and hug her, much to the kid's surprise. She took the cap and threw it away before dashing toward the door. But it was locked, and she turned to Najenda with stern face._

" _Go, remember your own words and your own decision", as she said so, another click heard and the door opened._

" _You don't need to remind me", she smiled again and move beyond the door, toward her Tatsumi._

 _ **Phew it's a long one. But I do hope you enjoy it. And as always... till next week!**_


	9. The Past (III)

**Hi! Early release today!**

 **we reached the last part from the flashback part. I know the ending was not that taunting for this chapter, but I do hope you are entertained as much as I did by writing it. Please do Leave your comments, thoughts, and feedbacks, they are much appreciated!**

 **without further ado, please enjoy!**

* * *

" _Sora.. Where are we going to?"_

" _To where we belong", smile spread on her lips now she knew where to go. To where they belong, to her Tatsumi._

 _The pair dashed out the capital in an instant. They bursted out of the book store and set to the north gate of the capital._

 _Somewhere far away, in a top of a tower in the palace, Najenda looked out. Her eyes catched the shadow of the mother and daughter. Esdeath slowed down so her daughter could follow, and that was enough for her trained eye to follow where they go. Smile spread on her cheek too._

" _I hope… you can sort it out. I trust you, Tatsumi"_

 _Her mind flew back to the times when both of them were best friends. Taking the imperial academy together, spending their time exploring the capital, fighting their opponent together. They were that close at that time._

 _She remembered that one particular evening, when both of them enjoy their hot spring and started the girl talk._

" _Hey, the guy with the red hair has a big crush on you", Najenda playfully joked to her bath friend. There were only two of them, as others had went back to their chambers._

" _Huh? Interesting"_

" _Interesting? Why so?"_

" _He could be a good pet", then devilish grin appeared on Esdeath's face. The asker looked in awe. She knew about how sadistic Esdeath could be, but didn't know that her sadism didn't see enemy or friend._

" _What…. Oh come on he was just trying to get your attention"_

" _Hahahah, he is a weakling, only suitable for being a pet"_

 _Silence came and no one spoke for a while. Najenda tried to change the way to ask._

" _Say.. how do you think about the boys on our camp?"_

" _Charming"_

" _Hmm?"_

" _For pets", another grin came while answering it. Didn't see this one coming. 'Damn, should not ask about these questions at all', Najenda cursed herself for asking such stupid question._

" _They are weak, and weaklings should not lump around the strong", unexpectedly she followed._

" _Sooo, if you met someone stronger than you, would you be interested in him"_

" _Yeah, to defeat him and make him submit as my pet", she grinned_

" _..., you have a weird hobby for pets", she gave up._

" _Why are you keep asking me about this stuff? Really boring one you have", Esdeath looked disinterested._

" _I want to see who is going to be your life partner. Someone as unique as you. Hmm…", Najenda replied while looking at the starry sky._

 _Esdeath chuckled, "maybe no one, unless I'm utterly defeated and being forced to be his pet. That time you will know him"_

" _Uh, relationship is not about being pet and master, you know?"_

" _Then… what is it? It is just forced to be breeding partner, right?" Esdeath now looked at her._

" _Hey! Relationship is about love! About meeting the special person that make your heart beat faster, make you do stupid things that you won't do normally, make you feel incomplete when you are separated. It is about love!", her answer before was really surprising herself, and accidentally Najenda let this answer slip._

" _Love… huh", now Esdeath looked to the sky._

" _It seems it does not need to be making you as a pet, huh?", Najenda smiled and turned around, leaving the tower._

* * *

 _Days passed after the fateful meeting with her old friend. Esdeath and Ester walked from city to city, approaching the northern plain. It was getting colder, but they had not reached the snowy grounds yet. The journey was slow. Esdeath hoped she still had her dragon and It would only take three days to reach the city of Ashka. The road they had to cross was hilly ground and mountainous forest, thus making the journey on foot significantly longer._

 _Ester didn't complain or ask a lot of questions, but she was visibly tired. They had been walking at least 16 hours a day, stopping just for food and sleep. Her companion seemed to be not interested to cross cities as much as she did and they always tried to snuck out silently or rounded up the cities. She voiced it out, but Esdeath kept saying that they had to go as fast as they could._

" _Ester, are you ok?", they stopped in the middle of a forest, about one third of the way from the capital to Ashka. Ester face was paler that it was used to and she did not want her to have any problem._

" _Sora… I am hungry", it was on the afternoon and they had not eaten anything since they woke up._

" _Grhh should have asked for a horse from her", she was annoyed by herself. Usually she would not miss this kind of detail and always prepare stuff detailedly. But the image of meeting Tatsumi simply dropped off her guard and let her run carelessly from the capital, like a teenage girl impatiently picked up her long gone boyfriend. Now she didn't have anything to buy horse and she had to curse their bad luck as no useful beasts they met to speed up their journey._

 _They stopped in the middle of a forest. Esdeath found some wild animals to eat with her daughter. She roasted the meat while sitting under a tree, while Ester was watching her with growling sound from her stomach._

" _Sora, can you tell me a bit more about my parents?", suddenly she asked Esdeath while she was taking care of their meal._

" _Hmm? you are going to meet them soon", she didn't look back while replying. But her face showed that she was amused. This was the first time Ester asked about this matter after starting their journey out of the forest. never she thought that she would actually enquire her again._

" _I want to know why they were never with me from my birth. Now you have to look for them instead of they come to get me. Are they such a cruel parent? If so, I don't want to meet them!", she said it rather harshly. Esdeath surprised and turned back to see her daughter._

" _No Ester, they are not that type of people. They were just in a condition where they think if you stay with them, you would be harmed. They just want you to stay safe," she looked back to the meat, unable to face her daughter while telling lies._

 _Silence came for a while. Esdeath finished roasting her meat and took two slices, one each for them. She gave it to Ester who gazed out looking at the forest ahead._

" _Then tell me about my mother", she started the first bite._

 _Esdeath didn't reply right away, instead she finished her first round before she finally talked._

" _Your mother is a very strong woman. She is once known as the empire's strongest", she said it with a big proud smile on her face._

" _Strongest?", Ester looked interested._

" _Yeah! She could destroy an entire army with her bare hands. She did that once!", Esdeath described herself proudly._

" _Huh"_

" _Hmm?", now she wondered why Ester lost her excitement_

" _If she was so strong, why was she taking that much time to take care whatever problem they have? Then she could pick me up. Not so strong I guess", she replied looking sad._

 _This one was unexpected, she hated the fact that Ester was smart enough to say this and she was dumb enough to boast herself in front of her daughter._

" _Then, what else about her?"_

" _Well, she was also a leader of a big army, she was a general"_

" _Huh"_

" _Again? What was wrong this time?", if this person was not her daughter, she would have sliced them inch by inch._

" _I don't want a strong mother. I want a mother like the one I saw on the streets on capital. She looked so charming and lovely"_

 _Esdeath sworn to get that woman a hefty price for making her daughter saying this. But deep inside her heart she bleed._

" _Well, she was also caring and lovely, she was one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen", this brightened Ester's face._

" _Uh Tatsumi's blood was too much in her", she thought, but she was also happy seeing her daughter's face looked better hearing her mother was beautiful and caring._

" _How about my father? Is he also a strong man?"_

 _Ester's surprised to see her companion's face was blushing and smiling after she asked about his father. Esdeath was thinking about Tatsumi and she could not help her uncontrollable reaction. Tatsumi came back to her mind. The cute smile, the enormous potential he had, the caring and loving part that filled the void on her heart._

" _He is a lovely man, he is gentle and strong, he is handsome and cute, he has a big heart, and he loves your mother so much", she could only talk while mind was floating around._

" _I want to meet my father!", suddenly Ester jumped, excited to hear about her father._

" _Me too", slipped from Esdeath's mouth. She was lucky Ester didn't hear this._

" _Do you think they will be happy to meet me?"_

" _Of course, good kid. They must be waiting impatiently for the right chance to be with you again. You will see how much they want to be with you later"_

" _So who is stronger? Is it my father or my mother?", she asked curiously._

" _Of course your mother is stronger than your father"_

" _Hehe"_

" _Why do you look so happy?", she was wondering the sudden change._

" _I was imagining my mother will be the one protecting my father. They must be looking funny". Esdeath's mind refused to accept, but her heart commanded the mind to shut up and again, she thought how much the two of them have changed her._

" _So, why do you know them that much? Are you close with my parents?", now Ester sat back and pulled her second portion._

" _Hmm, I am your mother's distant relative. See now why our hair color are same?", she quickly tried to make an answer. Ester just nodded and finished her meal._

* * *

They had reached the deeper part of the forest. Ester had million of questions to ask her mother, but she didn't dare to ask her. Esdeath looked depressed and sorrowful. She could not understand now that they had met her father, why would her mother left her father and went alone? But she knew her mother was like a shattered glass. Broken.

The night had engulfed the forest with the darkness. They sat in silence while Ester took care of their dinner. They caught a snow rabbit before the night fell. Her mother looked to be in the worst state she had ever seen her on.

Esdeath mind still flew back and forth to their journey. She wanted to skip the part after they had reached the snow grounds, as it was too painful to remember. But she could not take control of her own mind when it went back to the time when they arrived to the city of Askha.

* * *

 _Ester ran forward as they entered the northern city. It was a major city in northern border, one of the trade point with northerners. The city was lively and not much affected by the war. Esdeath could not wait to go to Tatsumi's village, but looking at her daughter happily strolling around the city, she held back herself and let her daughter enjoy the city._

 _They went to the market. It was morning, so the market was on its liveliest. A lot of people from the nearby villages came to buy their necessity. She went to a counter selling dango, one of her favourite snacks. But as she bought it, a familiar figure crossed and she caught the person from the edge of her eye._

" _Hmm, isn't it one of the Night Raid member?", she thought. She saw Mine on the market, but she did not make any move._

" _Could it be Night Raid were moving here after the war? Hmm.. interesting", she grinned. But then Ester came back to her shifting her thought again._

" _Sora, what did you get?"_

" _This? This is one of my favourite snack. Here take one and try", Esdeath gave it to her daughter._

 _The pair strolled around the city for the rest of the day. But when the sun was about to set, they moved out of the town. Esdeath already asked enough information that she needed, and she knew where to go._

 _The walk to Tatsumi's village was not that long. It was around three hours walking, heading west from the city's gate. The longer they walk, the quieter it was. They reached the forest before Tatsumi's village, but then she decided to make their presence as a surprise for her Tatsumi at the morning._

 _But she better scouted where Tatsumi lived. She didn't know which house to knock on the morning._

 _She took a look on each house one by one. None was Tatsumi's home._

 _An hour before midnight, her instinct led her to the edge of the village, to one humble house around the corner of the street. She could see it from outside the village. And she became furious, seeing her Tatsumi laid down in the bed with another woman, one that she saw earlier that day._

* * *

She took a deep breath, remembering the whole journey for this past four years. And looking at her daughter she thought how much both of her daughter and Tatsumi had changed her. The empire's strongest would not relent, would take her Tatsumi by force, would make him happy even without his existing family. But now, hearing Tatsumi's honest confession and looking at his face when they were together, her heart could not let her to forcely take him. She became mature then she was, knowing whatever she would do before would not bring any happiness to them.

She remembered her promise to Najenda, and she would, in any case, let Tatsumi to decide. Seems that this was indeed Tatsumi's decision anyway.

Then she fell next to her daughter, hugging her from behind, falling asleep.


	10. The Reason

**Aye! Glad to be back again!**

 **its been a long time for me to write this, and I am really happy some of you have taken a like to the series. I hope that my kind of writing did not bore you :)**

 **we kind of reaching the last third of the stories. Hope it keeps you entertained. Please do leave comments, thoughts, if you have one :)**

 **and without out further ado, please enjoy!**

* * *

When he opened his eyes, Tatsumi could only darkness. There was nothing in his sight. Hastily he turned around, tried to find Esdeath and Ester. He remembered only a moment before he passed out. He was savaged by the bandits, humiliated and kicked on the face. Then some vague image about Esdeath coming. And all went black. Sighing, he turned around to see where he was at the moment. He slowly recognised it, but surprised while learning it. He was back on his room. Now he was thinking, how could he get back there?

His head felt hurt, and he could not see things clearly. Slowly he raised from his bed, trying to open the door of his room. The middle room was as silent as the other rooms.

His stomach growled. He felt so weakened now and remember he had not eaten anything since the morning they left the home. He turned to the kitchen, tried to grab anything he could. There was not much, but he managed to make it up. Silently he sat on the chair, thinking about what had just happened.

Was it a dream? Was it a reality?

Then he touched his face, hurting the bruised cheek by the bandits.

"Auch"

Then it was not a dream. He was really beaten up just before. But how? How could he be here? Could it be ...?

He rose and went to check Sheele's room, hoping to see what he wanted to see. Inside, there was only Sheele laying on the bed peacefully. He came and gently stroke his daughter's hair, before kissing her forehead as slow as he could, afraid that it would wake her up. He then stood straight, looking at Sheele and took a deep breath before returning back to the door, closing it and turning to the middle room.

He opened the door of his own room, seeing Mine was on the bed. Her face was a mixture of worry and relieve, and Tatsumi could not say anything about it. He did to her what he did to Sheele, before again closing the door and standing in the room, trying to understand what was happening.

 _Where is Akame?_

He tried search all part of the house. No one else was there. No Akame, no Esdeath, and no Ester. Simply back to the days before everything changed. Just the three of them.

He sat on the empty couch in the middle room. He paid attention to the room he was in, but the room was neat and did not show any sign that it had been used recently.

"What the hell is happening here", his head started to hurt again. He sat silently with head slightly raised to see the ceiling.

He was settled, but not his heart. Everything that happened had just stirred his heart again. He had sworn to give his life to his family. But now he had another family. how should he live? The past love had gone back, disturbing the peace of the present to seek for the balanced.

He did not feel this way when he was trapped in the dungeon, waiting to be executed after carelessly being caught. He met Esdeath there, but there was only despair on his heart during their meeting. No love, maybe a bit of sorrow. Sadness that this person he faced had caged his lover deep inside herself.

This time, it was different. He felt love. He felt she had changed. She was not the general anymore. She was the girl who had taken now half of his heart. Now he did not know what to do.

Should he choose? Mine had everyone else to help her gone through her life. She got Akame. She could go back to the empire. Najenda would accept her with open hands. He was there on the most difficult part of their life. He was right there when she was fighting her life when delivering Sheele. But where he was when Esdeath was on that phase? Esdeath had no one else to be with beside her daughter. He had to pay back the debt for leaving Esdeath during the hardship. He had to pay back the time that he had taken from his other daughter. He just simply had to, right?

But could he leave behind his family? Could he leave behind Sheele's smile? Could he leave behind Mine's pout and her childish reaction?

Or maybe, could they live together? Could the five of them live happily, supporting and loving each other? Could it be a possibility, even the slightest chance would help, but could it be? Blood would definitely spill. There was no way Mine would accept Esdeath. No. There was no way.

Would Esdeath compromise and live together with Mine? Oh, he did not think so. There was no way it would happen. Even if she had changed, even if she had swallowed her pride, even if she simply turned back her principle, would she accept living together? With the weaklings? Sharing him?

These thoughts and dilemma was just too much for him. His head felt like about to explode. His heart was twisted and torn apart. He loved both of them, as much as the other. He could not just choose. But what should he do?

He gave up. Just tried to pass the night without drawing any conclusion. But before he really fell asleep, an image passed his mind. The image of five of them living together, with smile watching their daughters grew. smile bloomed on his lips while hoping and praying it was the reality before falling into the sleep.

* * *

Snow was raging back of Tatsumi's village. That night was one of the weird night where snow could just fall without any precaution. It was dangerous outside, and thus no one actually was walking on the streets. Everyone was safely sheltered on their own homes, waiting for the snow to calm down, hopefully before they had to start their day tomorrow.

If there was anyone dare enough to come out of their comfortable house, they would see a girl walking away from the village. Walking toward the west forest. It was a stupid thing to do, but the girl did not seem to be bothered at all.

One could not say if the girl was in hurry. Sometimes she walked like she was being chased by ghosts. Another step and she was walking like a snail. Her mind seemed to be too preoccupied to walk steadily. But the direction was not changed. It seemed the girl knew exactly where she wanted to go. Just unsure about speed she should take during her walk.

Akame had about as much thing going on her head as Tatsumi. He just came back, though she was sure it was not him who walked back alone. Esdeath must be carrying him home. But how could that be possible? That Esdeath. Why the heck would she do it? She wanted Tatsumi, right? Might as well just took him far far away, out of their reach.

If it was not her, then who else? Tatsumi followed them this afternoon, and came back beaten up. Could Esdeath beat him to pulp before being satisfied and returned him home? If that the case, she would be ready to fight Esdeath for her life. But… that did not seem right at all.

Her instinct told her to go to the forest. The west forest where she was yesterday. She just followed it without thinking, but there were no better clue at the time. She needed to seek for answer. She needed to know what Esdeath was up to. She needed to, or else she might lost whatever left precious to her. She must meet her.

The short journey took much longer than what it was supposed to be. The snow made it worse since it was quite hard to tell the direction in the middle of the storm. It was also make her felt that she was almost frozen. She could not imagine if Esdeath and her daughter was staying in the forest without anything to cover. So far only her determination lit up her mind to make this journey.

It turned out that the snow was calmer once she went between the trees. Now she needed to know where to head from here. This forest was massive. If they were still here, she would need a sheer amount of luck to find them. But again, her instinct led her to believe that it was her lucky day.

She walked almost about an hour, going much deeper to the forest. It was quiet, aside from the raging snowstorm, there were no other noises she could hear. But the deafening atmosphere piqued her interest. There was something close that made this happen. She stopped and she put her hand to Murasame's hilt, readying herself to engage in any battle.

Her instinct was again proven to be correct as suddenly a white tiger jumped from the darkness toward her. It was one of alpha class danger beast. Not so rare or dangerous, but still quite threatening for normal people. But the tiger picked wrong guest today, as it was a mere kitten assault for Akame. At least on normal bright day.

As the tiger passed her, she drew Murasame and stroke to the tiger's back. But it was a bit faster than she expected, and she missed her first strike. They stared at each other, making themselves ready for the next blow.

The tiger had an advantage over her in this battle. It lived and thrived in the snow. Snowstorm was nothing for the tiger, but that was not the case for Akame. Her vision was blurry, and she could not measure their distance properly. The tiger dived toward Akame with his jaw opened and claw ready to slash her open. She swung her blade toward the paw, knowing one slash was enough. But she swung it too fast. The blade missed the tip of the tiger's paw and she was forced to pull her body back if she did not want to be torn apart by the sharp claw dashing in front of her eyes.

Situation looked grim for her. The tiger wanted to finish it with the next blow. Akame knew, trained for almost entire life as an assassin, she knew the tiger intended to finish this now. She readied herself, making sure there would not be second mistake.

The waited moment came. The tiger bounced toward Akame with even much faster speed. But this time, she was ready. Suddenly, the tiger collapsed before it even reached Akame. She glanced at the tiger, but then there was a hole on the head of the tiger. Akame raised her head to see Esdeath was standing behind the tiger, looked tired but grinned as she stared at Akame.

"Why are you here?", that was her first words.

"Why do you help me? I did not ask for your help", she replied sharply.

"Was that what Night Raid taught to its member? Was that the words for the person who helped you?", she looked sarcastically.

"You…." Akame became angry. She came with no fighting in mind, but it seemed Esdeath herself was more than a reason to pick a fight.

"Why are you here Akame?"

"I want to talk with you", Akame slowly lowered Murasame, remembering her initial intention was to talk to this person instead of fighting to death.

The tension had not lowered yet, but Akame managed to get closer to Esdeath step by step. Her counterpart was just staring at her, still suspicious.

"Fine. I will tell you why I help you. I don't want anything dangerous near my daughter. Satisfied?", she looked at closing in Akame with disinterested eyes.

"Hmm… I wonder if you could say this before you had a daughter before", Akame suddenly chuckled, releasing the tension from her side.

Unexpectedly, the answer from the blue haired ex-general was much more friendly than Akame ever expected, "yeah, maybe I wouldn't. You should thank Tatsumi and Ester for changing me so much that I started to care about weaklings". She turned and started to walk ahead of Akame.

They kept walking in silence before they reached where Esdeath left Ester to sleep. She was sleeping peacefully, as innocent as a pure kid could. Esdeath sat next to Ester and gently stroke her daughter hair, before Akame sat opposite to where she was.

"So, what do you want to talk?"

Akame looked at Ester, without raising her head she replied, "Why did you take Tatsumi back? The ice queen would not let her prey get away easily. You got what you want, why bother turned him back?"

"Tell me Akame, have you ever fallen in love?", Akame was surprised. The Esdeath she met was full of surprise and unexpectedly answering her answer in a weird way.

"I guess.. I have never fallen yet, so far…", she looked up to the sky, thinking and digging her own heart to see if that was the reality.

"I had never really felt pain before our fight. Even on our fight before, the pain was just physical. The wound healed fast. The pain gone after matter of days. It was nothing for me", she glanced to the sky as well, remembering her bloody glory days.

"But after meeting Tatsumi, I knew one more pain. Pain that last forever, pain that torture your soul instead of your body. I did this so many time to my prisoners, never I had felt even once how painful it could be. You know the easiest way to broke the strongest person? Take the dearest of that person, and they will break in a matter of minutes", Akame looked at disgust.

"But it seemed God paid back what I had done dearly. The pain came to me, in a much worse way. The pain of rejected by the person who you love, looking at the person you hold dear slowly moving away from you, looking at your flesh and blood crying. It hurt Akame. It hurt much more than getting your limbs severed", a tear rolled down from her right eye. Akame looked at it expressionless.

"I knew Tatsumi would not be happy if I forced him to come with me. He would not love me and Ester from his heart. It would be fake. No matter how much I forced it. If he had no family, maybe I could. But now he had his own wife and daughter, he would never bend. Days that we would pass, we would only see despair on his face. I did not want to see it. I did not want Ester to see it", another tear came down, from her another eye.

"I am strong, my daughter is also strong. We will live, without Tatsumi. We could not live seeing his sorrowful face, but we could live without him, knowing that he is happy with his family", slowly she turned to Akame, "and that's why, Akame, why I took him back to his family", she smiled. Smiled that Akame had seen before, the smile of loving and caring mother.

Silence covered the ground for almost five minutes. Both were deep in their own mind.

Finally Akame broke it.

"You know, the night when you came and passed out, he carried you to the bed. He told me something that he did not said", Akame paused. Esdeath looked at her.

"He loves you. He loves both of you as least as much he loves his other family. He could not say it. But his eyes told me everything that I need to know". Esdeath looked down now, not sure what to say.

"I would not tell you to stay. It is up to you. But I know Tatsumi is a great person. He can resolve anything that he wants to. If he truly loves you as much as I think he does, then he will come to you, with his own resolution and his own way", Akame rose and stood up. Turning back toward where she came from.

"You have changed so much, Esdeath. I could not recognise you as the empire's strongest and greatest enemy anymore. But that was also the reason why I will walk away, letting Tatsumi to resolve his own problem the way he wants it to be", slowly she walked away.

Esdeath was sitting down, completely uncertain what to do. And by that, Akame walked away.

* * *

It was around three in the morning. The village was almost felt like a dead town. Akame slowly went back to Tatsumi's home and opened its door, moving in, and closed it back. She saw Tatsumi was sleeping in the middle of the room. She took a seat next to him, looking at his face. Peaceful, yet troubled. Calm, yet distressed.

Suddenly Tatsumi woke up, panting. He looked in extreme sad, while turning his head left and right. He quickly recollected his memory before his sleep, and happy enough to find Akame was sitting next to him.

"Where were you, Akame? I could not find you before"

"Forest. West forest. She was waiting there, if you are asking"

Tatsumi smiled, and quickly stood up.

"Akame, take care of Mine. I have made my resolve now"

Akame looked surprised, but then looking at his face, she pulled back and smiled.

"Go! Do what you must do!"

"Hell yeah I will!", and he dashed through the door.

 **So till next week!**


	11. The Resolution

**Hello! Back again with the latest chapter!**

 **From here, it won't be far away until we reach the ending. I hope you are enjoying this work and I am still making this story sensible :sweat_smile:**

 **Anyway, here you go!**

* * *

" _Daddy! Come here!" Sheele was shouting from the middle of the beach._

 _The day was hot, really hot actually. He missed it for years already. The days with his comrade were mostly passed under blazing sun, just like this time. It was the time that Tatsumi thrilled with adventure, giving him sentimental feeling being in this weather. The weather reminded him to his friends, those who he held dear in the past._

 _But for these 4 years, his usual days were always snowy. Sun shining from above was something he could only dream about. On the worse months, he could barely see the sun for more than an hour a day._

 _Another thing that he missed a lot; the grass. Where they were right now had the ground covered by grass and sand instead of snow. It was a good feeling that his barefoot could feel the warmth of the day. Back in north? It was absolutely out of question._

 _And the sky. The sky was blue instead of grey. The sky was blue only on summer on the north. When it reached another season, the clouds would always cover the sky, and if it was not snowing, then it would be dark._

 _He finally fulfilled his promise to his daughter. He brought his family to the southern islands, where beaches was all over the place. This was a new experience for his daughter, as she had been spending all of her life on the snowy plain. Now she enjoyed her time to the fullest._

 _He was sitting on the sand when he heard the sound. The beach was not that crowded, but many people from the town nearby was also enjoying their free time on this area._

 _Sheele was playing with Mine, not too far away from the place he was sitting. Sadly both of them could not swim, so they were playing with balloon to help them float. He smiled looking at them. Mine small figure made it more like sisters playing together instead of a mother and her daughter._

 _He was gazing around, not wanting to go swimming with his family, but instead looking at other ladies trying to show off their arousing body._

" _Daddy, we made ice shave!", another sound suddenly came from behind._

 _He then saw his other daughter running with cups of shaved ice, while her mother following from behind. She was gorgeous, wearing a bikini that would put other women to shame. The curve on her body was like a vase; enchanting. As if that was not enough, she rolled up her blue silky hair to make her neck looked even sexier. Tatsumi could never understand why woman with this caliber could fall in love with a country bumpkin like him._

" _Ester, don't run. You will trip down and ruin our dessert", Esdeath tried to slow down their daughter. She failed miserably as the kid kept her pace and approaching her father in half running._

" _Good girl, listen to your mom. Come here sit together, I will call your sister", he slowly rose up and walked toward the beach, trying to call Mine and Sheele._

" _Sheele, Mine, come here let's eat ice"_

 _The pair followed him and slowly heading back to where Tatsumi was. He chuckled looking at them trying to get to the land._

 _Slowly they gathered together and five of them sat together, enjoying the ice that was made by his older daughter. Not sure where they got the ice from, but it would not be a problem if the ice queen herself was there._

" _Ester give me some moree!", Sheele had finished her ice, but she wanted some extra. The portion for the kids was already big enough for them, but that apparently was not the case for her_ _._

" _Sheele, you are going to get sick if you eat a lot more", her step mother warned her._

" _But it was so good! I wanted a second one, pleasee!"_

 _Esdeath looked at Mine as if she gave it up to her to decide. She did not take a minute to say, "no Sheele! Your mother was right. I don't want you to be sick. We are in the holiday, right? If you get sick now then we have to cancel our holiday."_

" _Hfft, Fine!", Sheele pouted_

 _The rest of the family just laugh and continued their dessert time._

 _Tatsumi smiled to his heart. This was truly the time he enjoyed the most. Spending the time with his beloved ones, all five of them live happily as a family. Supporting, loving, and caring each other. His daughters accepted both of their mothers as their own, and the mothers were loving to others' daughter._

 _They finished their dessert soon after that and they were ready to get back to the water. His wives and daughters went to the water right away, while Tatsumi was still cleaning the mess they made. He could hear them playing in the water. At a glance he saw Esdeath showed her amazing ability swimming flawlessly like a mermaid. Mine and their daughters were just admiring how amazing she was._

 _He turned his head before suddenly he heard scream, scream from his family._

 _Then he saw they were separated. Esdeath and Ester on a far left, while Mine and Sheele on the far right. All of them looked to be in trouble._

" _Help! Daddy help!", he heard Sheele screamed._

" _Help us Daddy! Help me and mommy", almost at the same time he heard Ester shouted from the left._

" _What the hell is happening!", Tatsumi stood frozen, could not comprehend what had just happened. Every second he wasted while thinking about it, each of his family was getting closer to their doom. He simply had to choose._

" _Tatsumi…", he heard Mine's voice faintly from afar._

" _Darling….", another one from Esdeath._

* * *

Darkness slowly fading from Tatsumi's village. Birds chirping to let the villagers know it was the time for them to wake up. The morning was cold, thanks to snowstorm on the night. The village gradually became livelier, with kids running on the snow covered streets. The adults were preparing a lot of stuffs to start their day. Some prepared their hunting gear, while others prepared their journey to trade what they had in other places.

Akame barely slept that morning. She could not do it right after Tatsumi left. She did not know how to deliver the news to Mine, at least to soften the damage. She wanted to tell her in a way that she could understand and accept. But there was no easy way to achieve it. Not with Mine, as she knew how stubborn her ex Night Raid fellow assassin was.

She got up early, before the cock crowed. She had not found the answer, but the body could not resist the exhaustion. Her stomach growled asking to be fed. She rose to the kitchen, taking anything left from the kitchen. She was unfortunate enough that Tatsumi did it earlier than her. Nothing really useful right now left, so she was just sitting on the dining room, dozing off to push away her hungriness.

She was still there when suddenly loud sound was heard as the door from Mine's room was opened by the occupant. Akame turned and see Mine's face looked worried.

"Akame where is Tatsumi?", Mine asked her. Angry, worried, surprised, all feeling was heard from her voice. Akame could not bring herself to tell Mine right away.

"Mommy! What happened?", now Sheele woke up and got out of her room while rubbing her eyes.

"AKAME! WHERE. IS. HE?", Mine tone raised, impatiently asking for an answer.

"Mine, calm down. Let's talk on your room", she said calmly. Sheele looked confused, but she knew the tension was high. It won't be a good idea to barge in right now.

Mine was about to burst from her anger, but Akame slowly lead her to get back in to her room. She told Sheele to get in, and then closed the door.

* * *

Tatsumi jumped out of his house full with spirit. But the raging snowstorm outside was not an easy opponent, even for the mighty Tatsumi. As soon as he was outside, he was frozen and regretted his hasty decision to jump out without any protection. But he knew he was racing against the time. Every second wasted could mean he lost his only chance to get back his family. If Esdeath decided to go right now, he was sure he would not be able to find them anymore. Not as long as they did not want to show themselves to him.

He strengthened himself and walked slowly toward the west forest. The snow was much thicker and every step he took was heavier that it used to be. His vision was blurry, and his condition was not better with little energy he had left. He barely ate anything for the whole yesterday, and he thought it was kind of miracle that he could do this right now.

After struggling to walk about an hour or so, he finally reached the edge of the forest. Again, it was much calmer when he reached the trees, but his body had already refused to move forward any longer. He could barely walk, always leaned on the trees to keep his pace.

Right before he thought about giving up, the dream came back vividly in his mind, fueling his spirit to stand up and walk to where he wanted himself to be. He managed to drag himself for almost another half an hour. He went straight to the center of the forest, not knowing if it was the right decision, nor following his instinct. He just wanted to go deeper to the forest, as much as his body would allow him to.

Unfortunately, his limit had passed. His vision went black. He could feel nothing, he could see nothing, he could hear nothing. All was just black. He collapsed, and laid down on the snow unmoved.

"Uh…"

Tatsumi woken up by the tempting delicious smell from a roasted meat. His stomach reacted violently to this smell, forcing his mind to wake up and search for its whereabouts. But his heart was stronger when he saw his beloved Esdeath and their daughter was the one who were roasting the meat. He jumped to Esdeath and hugged her in tears.

"Tatsumi…", she blushed, embarrassed, but smile was wide on her lips and tears flowing down from her eyes. She felt happiness just looking at how much Tatsumi was seemingly worried about her and jumped as he saw her. She had given up, had accepted the image that Tatsumi would leave her behind and never going back to them. Now what she had was the complete opposite, where Tatsumi came and loved them more than as she would ever ask.

"Mommy… Daddy…", Ester did not want to miss this moment and came to hug them together.

"Why did you leave me? Don't torture my heart to ever leave me behind", Tatsumi slowly moved and their eye connected.

"But Tatsumi… You don't love me, right? I don't want to force you to be with me…", she slowly lowered her head, but failed after Tatsumi's hand held her cheek and raised it back.

"I said I won't love the sadistic, chauvinistic, over prideful Esdeath. But I think that Esdeath had left, died long long time ago. I only see Esdeath Partas who had stolen my heart, who was the part of my soul", he looked deep into her eyes while saying this.

"I… I…", Esdeath was unable to say anything. She really felt like a love stricken weak and powerless girl, and happily accepting it, as long as it mean Tatsumi would embrace her, loving her.

"Come with me, don't ever leave me behind anymore. I swear to never leave you. Please promise me to stay being this Esdeath. Promise me to leave your old life"

"But..."

"There is no but, Esdeath. Just please promise to me. Promise that you will be this Esdeath forever, from now on"

"Tatsumi,... For you... I will **...** ", she could not finish her sentence but Tatsumi had jumped to her, kissing her deep and full with love.

"Awww…", Ester blushed, trying to cover her eyes but curiosity top her mind and she peeked through the gap of her fingers.

Both was surprised and realised that their daughter was looking at them. Slowly they moved back and blushed, looking to other direction avoiding eye contact.

The awkwardness was strong, but then broken by Tatsumi's growling stomach. It was violently asking for something to digest, and they laughed before Esdeath handed him a piece of meat. He ate it greedily, and it tasted as the best meat he ever had, better than Akame's speciality. His lover and their daughter was just looking at him happily, enjoying the view of their loved one devouring their dinner.

"I love you daddy", Ester hug him. Tatsumi smiled and replied her.

They sat in circle now, after the meal was finished and the carcase had been put away. There was another thing that was still on Esdeath's mind, and she could not let it go. She had to ask him.

"Tatsumi…"

"Hmm..?", he looked at her

"What about your other family? Your other daughter?", she looked worried, could not disguise it properly.

"Don't worry, I have made my resolution", he smiled gently and hugged her.

* * *

"NO AKAME! I WOULD NEVER ACCEPT THIS!", Mine clearly did not favour Tatsumi's decision. Not at the slightest.

"Calm down, Mine", Akame could only try to soothe her rage. Mine had been crying so much the day before that she would not want to do it anymore. Now what was left was denial and anger. Anger that Tatsumi had rejected and left her for another time.

"If he decided to get that ice bitch, then he can forget about me and Sheele forever. I would not let him come near us anymore", Mine talked with lower tone, but the voice was stern and determined. Her eyes fueled with rage, but sadness was shown in between.

Akame sat in silence, but slowly she reached Mine and hugged her. Mine was a bit resisting. Akame kept on hugging her until she was just sat motionless, accepting the comfort from her friend. Behind the door, Sheele was standing in horror. Her face shown that she could not believe what she just heard. She ran to her room, crying and missing his beloved father.

It was almost noon when Mine had recovered, and able to control her emotion. Akame still sat beside her, not talking a single word for the whole time. Her stomach growled couple times already, protesting her for not eating for so long. But no one responded, just both sat in silence.

"Let's have lunch, you seemed to be starving", Mine forced herself to smile.

But somehow, another thing clicks in Akame mind. She determined to tell Mine their untold promise with her nemesis.

"Mine, I need to tell it to you", Akame spoke slowly.

"Tell me what?"

Slowly she raised her head and looked at Mine on the eye, "our debt"

* * *

 **I have been trying my best to find the most suitable place to put the title on the script. Finally! Yes! I did it hahahah**

 **Soo next chapter will uncover another part of the story, which edging us to the conclusion. Hope you enjoy it... And till next week!**


	12. The Debt

**Finally reached the last three chapters! It is sad that it got to end, but I hope this story entertain you as much as it entertains me.**

 **I was kind of busy and not feeling well at the same time, so forgive me for many grammar or bad wordings. I hope it still does what it has to do!**

 **Then please enjoy :D**

* * *

" _Show me what you got, Akame", Esdeath readied herself to her final action with Akame. She unsheated her rapier, and looked at Akame mockingly. They were about to settle what likely be the last fight for each of them. The famous assassin and the empire's strongest._

 _Akame stood in silence, but raised murasame to battle position. They looked at each other, waiting for the right time to strike. Anyone who was careless would be paying dearly, and they did not want to be the receiver._

 _They dashed toward each other almost at the same time. Untrained eyes would not be able to catch their movement. They jumped like a thunder and the force exerted to their surrounding. The first clashed happen in a second and the wind strongly blew as the reaction of two gigantic power meet each other._

 _The fight soon became full scale - all out - battle. Both Akame and Esdeath was dancing around with their respective sword with inhumane speed. Esdeath swung her rapier to Akame leg, but she barely dodged it while tried to send a counter by slashing Esdeath's other arm. One slash. That was all she needed. But making one slash to the Ice Queen was already more difficult than defeating an omega class danger beast._

 _From their first encounter, they knew that Esdeath edged Akame in terms of speed and power. Not much, but she still had the advantage in that area. But murasame's ability just gave Akame a bigger plus in this fight. One hit and she would be dead. Esdeath knew about this very well, forced her to be much more cautious with her movement. Not just present movement, but with her planned attack and counter._

 _Both withdrew back to their initial position, looking at each other._

" _Not bad Akame, this is the first time I felt another enjoyment after so long", Esdeath smirked maniacally. The counterpart was just standing and looked displeased. She knew the odds was heavily against her. Esdeath had not even used her imperial arms, but she could not best her in this fight._

" _I guess it is time to be a bit serious", and then she started to cover her rapier with ice._

 _She jumped again with even faster speed, much to Akame surprise. She felt a small cut on her shoulder, not managed to fully dodge the last hit. Esdeath smiled after standing back from her jump, before instantly dashed back approaching her target. Akame was ready this time, and suddenly dropped her body to dodge it. She quickly slashed her sword to the floating Esdeath, reaching her toes._

 _In a moment, it looked like she managed to slash one of her leg. But Esdeath was standing firm, not hurted. The targeted leg was covered with ice, barely managed to make a solid cover from the one kill slash._

" _Tsk…"_

" _C'mon Akame, I know you are better than this…", before Esdeath could finish her taunt, suddenly_ _Shikoutazer was activated by the emperor. Both of them forgot about their fight in a moment and looked toward the oversized teigu. It was not long before the teigu madly sent beam of laser, destroying big area in an instant._

" _Do you see it Akame? We won't lose. Now you shall die here, hahahaha", she laughed, irritating Akame who dashed to her direction._

 _Esdeath did not move an inch, but she summoned a thick ice wall between her and Akame. She sliced it directly, but then Esdeath had also prepared behind, slashing toward incoming foe with thunderous speed and power. This time Akame could not dodge it anymore, though she kind of expected that move. The pure power and speed was beyond her comprehend, and just slice through her legs, wounding it and made her unable to stand properly._

 _Knowing the stake, Akame decided to use her trump card. She knew what it means, what she would sacrifice, but her mind was set and she was ready. She sliced her hand with Murasame._

" _Hmm… Interesting", she said it, but she also felt enormous power coming from her opponent. It was like a different Akame from what she fought, and she was not going to take this one easy._

 _The poison flowed on Akame's blood, bringing back the actual power of the danger beast who made Murasame. She felt the power, she felt the pain. Red markings appeared all over her body, making her looked like a demon herself. But whatever it was, she felt her leg was healed and she was ready for their next clash._

 _Akame dashed toward Esdeath, this time, with speed matching the ice queen herself. Esdeath was surprised, but she was ready and create three thick ice walls to slow down Akame. It was not really effective, as somehow Akame's slice was also more powerful. She cut the ice like cutting bunch of jelly, and in an instant reaching Esdeath herself. She had to jump backward and started swinging her rapier to protect herself._

" _Clang", the full power swing from Akame sliced through the ice enveloping Esdeath's rapier, breaking the general's longtime serving partner. She looked at the rapier with much dismay, before anger took over since her beloved rapier was broken in one strike._

 _Another rapier was formed by ice, but this time it looked to have a darkish color._

" _Impressive Akame, you are the only one to break my sword. I have to honour you with one of my special technique", and she raised the blackened rapier._

 _Both darted against each other, and swung their weapon with unbelievable speed. The clash was splattering fires to their surrounding, but both started to exchange blows rapidly. The new ice rapier was sturdy enough to take blows from Akame's slash, but somehow looked to be heavier than Esdeath's usual weapon. Her movement was slowed a bit. Not much, but enough to even the battle._

* * *

 _On the other place not so far away where the two most dangerous persons on the empire clashed, Tatsumi and Wave was trying their best to beat the emperor's teigu. They did not manage to land any meaningful blow so far, instead angering the emperor to went full rage toward the area near them. He blasted many areas with the laser, not caring about his own people getting blown by the killing rays._

 _Finally, after several times trying, the emperor managed to knock out Tatsumi. He was sent of flying and ramming the street, nearly touching his death. He was almost unconscious, with all bone felt to be shattered and power seemed to be seeped away through thousands of small cuts on his body. He basically laying on the pool of his own blood._

 _Suddenly, Tyrant approached him, offering power for him in exchange for more control over his body._

" _ **Give me your body, and I will give you the power that you had never expected"**_

" _I will not give it to anyone else!", Tatsumi resisted._

" _ **Don't be foolish, little trash. If I left you now, you will just be a mesh of dead meat. You will be dead, and everything in this empire will be lashed out by that madness"**_

 _Tatsumi wanted to resist, but he basically got no other choice. Tyrant had tempted him several times before, but this one was the worst of all. There was no option B for him, that he had to accept it. Not to survive, but to save everyone else from being killed by Shikoutazer._

 _As soon as he gave up, Incursio evolved to another level. His appearance changed so much that it did not resemble human anymore. It was a mix of dragon and human, with his pupils changed to a cross shaped red eyes. But he felt unbelievable power flowing through his body. The hurt was gone, the bone seemed to be reconstructed, and he felt no tiresome at all._

 _Wave looked from far away, worried and shocked. Tatsumi did not look like a human anymore. Suddenly, the creature dashed like a lighting to the robot teigu, landed an impactful blow on one of its leg. The blow gave such an unexpected effect that it was almost tearing apart the leg that was hit. The attacker somehow floated on the air, with a help of a dragon wing spread from his back._

 _The emperor went mad with its godly ability, destroying even more area in his attempt to obliterate the flying dragon. The tyrant decided to end the war. He dashed toward the middle of the robot chest, thrusting with his spear in full speed and power. The blow created a mini earthquake, shaking the entire capital._

 _Tatsumi landed on the ground, with half of his armor depleted and broken. He had used all power on his body to deliver this blow. The big teigu seemed to be not responsive, while he could hear the emperor's screaming for its movement. And miraculously he did manage to make it move. The robot felt slowly on one of the residential area, where many residents was still trapped, unable to move quickly enough. They could only scream for their life._

 _With the very last power he had, Tatsumi flew to Shikoutazer, trying to hold of the movement, giving as much time as he could to the citizens below._

 _Esdeath and Akame almost reached their final moment in this decisive battle. Both had exchanged so much blows. Akame had multiple wounds on her body, but Esdeath had couple bruised on hers as well. She managed to dodge all cuts from Akame, but had to receive other blows in exchange. Both had used much energy, more than what they had ever done before._

" _Let's finish this Akame", Esdeath was raising her rapier._

" _Let's go"_

 _Before they made any movement, a loud boom was head. The ground was shaking. They could not put more focus on their fight, turning their heads toward the source of the loud noise. They saw the flying incursio made a huge hole on the chest of Shikoutazer._

" _Tatsumi….", Esdeath was happy inside, looking at how much stronger Tatsumi got._

 _But her happiness faded almost immediately. With her trained eyes, she could see what Tatsumi did next. He was in no condition to do whatever he wanted to do. Anything else and he would die, gone from her forever. Without second thought, Esdeath jumped to the battle. Akame surprised and screamed from behind, "What are you thinking you are doing? Face me, coward"_

 _Esdeath almost burnt from being called as a coward, but her eyes set on the flying Tatsumi, holding the emperor's teigu with the very last thing he had. They were not too far away from Tatsumi and the big teigu now, so she tried to do what she could to help Tatsumi._

" _GRAUHORNNN", and she erected a magnificent ice pillar, impaling the teigu from below. The movement stopped a bit, but it did not really helpful as it started to change course instead of stopping._

" _Tsk…", she had almost used up her energy, not much she could do. Anything careless and she would die in vain. Die of exhaustion, or die from Akame's slash. She kept run toward Tatsumi, but her vision got blurry now._

 _Akame surprised looking at what Esdeath did. But she was unsure about what was her true intention. Was it to help Tatsumi? Or attacking him? It was too vague to guess._

 _Tatsumi could not hold it any longer. Blood poured out from many parts of his body. He almost felt like parting with his body, about to leave the world behind. He could barely see two figures approaching him from the east, but he could not do anything else if they wanted to attack him._

" _GRAUHORNNN …. GRAUHORNN", she summoned more ice pillars, with almost everything left on her body. It was a bit better this time, and the citizens below managed to run away from the dangerous area. But Tatsumi did not know about it. His senses had dulled and he only knew about pushing back the robot. With every move, he lost more blood and he could not see anything else anymore._

" _Damn…", and right before Esdeath could reach Tatsumi, the ice pillar was broken and the robot started to fall down again. Tatsumi would be dead in a matter of seconds now._

 _Then the picture of Tatsumi dying on her hands flashed on Esdeath's mind. She screamed and as soon as it was close enough, she used her trump card._

" _MAHAPADMA"_

 _Everything stopped. The time stopped. The robot stopped. Tatsumi's flowing blood stop. But it was not going to stop for long time. Not long enough to save him. Perhaps._

 _She knew there was not much time, she ran to him, dragged him as fast as she could. It was not easy. He was flying, she was running from the roof, jumping to his direction. Fortunately he was already close enough to the ground so that she could reach him. But everything accounted, there were simply not much time to save him. She would need more to stop it._

" _Please… just give me one more second… It would be enough", but as she said so, her body felt like broken to pieces. The toll was really high, and she risked her life for this additional one second._

 _She coughed blood, but she got the second she needed. Tatsumi was saved inches only from the big teigu, but when the time flowed back, they were saved._

 _Esdeath and unconscious Tatsumi laid down on the ground. She could barely move anything. But her eyes looked relieved that Tatsumi was fine. She rolled her eyes and then saw Akame approached them. She wanted to fight, but even her mouth could not spew any other words._

 _Surprisingly, Akame just looked at Tatsumi, relieved and grateful on her eyes that he live. A tear rolled down on her eyes, and she hugged Tatsumi._

 _Slowly Tatsumi came back to his usual appearance. Incursio returned back to the sword, but the jewel on the middle turned grey instead of red._

 _Akame stood up, while carrying Tatsumi on her shoulder. She looked at Esdeath, exchanging the glance._

" _Thank you..", and she walked away, leaving her laying down behind._

* * *

Silence was on the room after Akame finished with her story. Mine could not believe what she heard. She never knew about this. Tatsumi never told her, nor Akame. This was simply like a bucket of ice being thrown to her face.

"Why did… Tatsumi never told me?...", Mine asked Akame.

"He did not know, Mine. Only me and Najenda know"

"But why… why did you save her? She might did it for her own reason…", she still tried to reject the idea that Tatsumi was alive only because of her most despised person saved him.

"Whatever the reason was, she sacrificed herself to save him. I was there after whatever she did to save Tatsumi. She was half dead. She could not even talk. And I felt it Mine. By what she did, she had let off at least half of power she had permanently."

She followed, "And I could not kill her on that time. Not after what she had done. Maybe she did not know the consequences, but I was too relieved that we did not lose another friend. I was thinking about you, Mine. You were alone, in love with him. If we could save him by letting her go, I would not mind."

Mine sat on the bad, unsure what to do.

"If he had not lived, there would not be Sheele, there would not be happiness in you. Day by day passed made me even harder to do it. Looking at your happiness, I felt that it was thanks to her."

"I… I don't want to be indebted to her. I had my own happiness!", Mine became angry as Akame said so.

"Then let Tatsumi decide it Mine. I trust him that he would make the best choice, to repay her and to keep your happiness", she looked at her.

"I…"

Suddenly they heard the front door was opened from the outside. They rushed to the middle room to see who it was. Mine got a bad feeling, and turned out to be the right one.

She saw Tatsumi stood, with Esdeath slightly in behind, holding his hand, and Ester behind them, walking happily.

* * *

 **Soo how is it?! Leave your comment and thoughts :D we are reaching the climax of the story... and as always, till next week!**


	13. The Retribution

**We are turning to the last pages of this story. I have to say I am quite sad that it had to be finished, but nonetheless I hope it is as enjoyable as it could be. Next chapter will be the end, and I hope this chapter could deliver the end beautifully. Please enjoy!**

"Tatsumi…", Mine was startled by what she saw. She was happy with Tatsumi coming back to their home, but she did not welcome the companion. If they came about an hour from now, things maybe different. She was still on unstable condition with whatever she just had, and she could only respond with angry, confused look to the coming guests.

"Mine… Listen", but he could not finish what he said as Mine had thrown to him whatever close to her.

"Don't come! Why would you even come!", she was hysteric, doing whatever reaction she could while holding her tears. Her mind was simply stirred up and unable to react properly. Tatsumi was lucky though, she could only grab some pillow that she hugged while going out of their room before. But soon it got violent as she also threw some glassware.

However, deep down Mine knew that part of her hate to Esdeath had gone after hearing Akame's stories. As much as she did not want to admit it, she knew she was thankful for Tatsumi and the past four years of her life was owned to her. But she knew it too suddenly, and now she met with her again, everything seemed to be blurred and she could only react angrily.

Esdeath seemed about to move before then Tatsumi held her back. He knew any movement had a possibility to spark another argument with Mine.

"I got this, I had been with her for so long that I know how to handle it", he whispered to Esdeath.

Mine was still on rampage, but slowly Tatsumi succeed to approach her. Another throwing came toward him, but Tatsumi easily dodged it. Things getting messier and Akame decided to move out of the room, circling the tables and reached Esdeath, silently.

"Akame, where are you going?", Esdeath turned to her and curiously she wanted to know.

"Well, this is family matter now I guess?"

"Come on, you are a part of this messy family too, you know", she smiled.

Akame stand still, unresponsive for a while, before returned her smile gently.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi finally came close to Mine. He looked her at the eyes. Her pink eyes were watery, but she looked back, unresolved to her own decision. Tatsumi hugged her, closely and tightly. She bursted to cry, not answering the hug but just stand and cry, feeling that burden that she held finally broken to pieces by her partner.

"Why… why did you come back…"

"Because… this is where I belong, with my family", he said it while looking at her eyes.

Finally, Mine smiled a little. Tatsumi's word like a new breeze for her heated soul, calming her furious rage, though not manage to put it off.

They stayed for at least ten minutes before Mine stopped. Everybody else on that room was just silently watching, not even moving. Ester hid behind her mother, shaking and unsure what to do. Akame looked at them feeling uncertain, while Esdeath looked disinterested. Though she accepted to live with them, it seemed that it did not mean she could accept Mine right away. Everything was for Tatsumi sake.

Akame was a better fit for her. She was strong, respectable, and she knew her for a while. But Mine? She could only see her as a spoiled adult, weakling that pretend to be strong. Thinking about this, she awkwardly looking away. She promised Tatsumi to change. Maybe she did change. It was not like she wanted to kill and torture the little pink girl, but could she live with her?

Tatsumi slowly let her go while keeping the eye contact. Any wrong move and Mine would easily bursted again, he knew this much. He waited patiently, hoping that Mine would start.

Many things were in her mind right now, but Akame words flashed back and catched her attention.

"So… what do you want to do now? What is your resolution?", she asked looking to his answer.

"I have decided Mine…", he paused, "we will live all together"

"WHAT?!", another wave of emotion hit her hard. She was ready if he chose one of them, but not with this.

"Yes Mine. I love both of you. I love both Sheele and Ester. I want us to live together, supporting and caring together"

"But how Tatsumi! You know how dangerous that woman is! You don't know if she had really changed, or if she was just deceiving you!" she started again, raising her tone while pointing to Esdeath.

The accused seemed did not care, while patting her daughter head looked bored.

"No Mine, I know if she had changed or if she had not changed. Trust me Mine, I can't live happily with just one of you", he looked terribly sad while saying this.

"BUT HOW ABOUT ME TATSUMI! Do you think I can live with a smile with her on the same house with me!", she slapped him on the face.

Now Esdeath turned her head, ready to protect her Tatsumi if the girl went rampage on him. But Akame held her hand, shook his head, and she finally moved back to initial position.

"Hit me Mine! Hit me as much as you want! I am sorry… I am truly sorry that I have shared my heart with someone else. But please understand. Please understand and forgive me…", he unable to look at her eyes while saying so. She landed another jab to his cheek, but that was not so hard this time.

"Why Tatsumi… why must you do this… I am prepared if you are going away from our live. But why…", she could only let her arms lean on his chest while she looked down. Confused, angry, terrified, sad, all mixed to her reaction. Tatsumi's word struct like a thunder.

"Because I must do what is the right thing to do, what is the best for all of us. She had accepted to live together with us, but I am asking you Mine, please, at least, give it a try…"

It took a while before she became back to normal. Mine did not want to do what Tatsumi asked her to do, but she knew either way she must accept what he decided. She did not actively deny Esdeath's presence anymore, but all of them knew she was just forced to do it. It put more burden to Tatsumi than anyone else, but hoping that it would go away with time, he just let it slip.

All was looking better before suddenly Ester asked, "Auntie, where is Sheele?"

Now everyone just realised that they had missed someone in that room. They were too busy to deal with their own mess that they had forgotten about little emotional Sheele. Mine jumped to her room, only to find it was empty. The window was opened, but there was no one inside the room.

"SHEELEE", she screamed and ran searching for her daughter in all corner of the house. But there were no signs for the little pink haired girl, leading to the most likely an escape from the window.

"What.. happened…", Mine collapsed. This was even worse than what had just happened to her an hour ago. Sheele was not an obedient girl, but this time… it felt different. Her motherly instinct now this time, her daughter was facing danger.

Another hour passed after they knew Sheele was missing. Everyone tried to search the entire village. Akame had been circling the market couple times, asking anyone she could ask. Esdeath tried to round the village, looking for the kid. Tatsumi had visited a lot of neighbours, hoping that she were with one of them. But they found no trace of the girl. Sun was going to set in another hour or two, so they must hurry to make sure nothing bad happened to her.

They gathered near the gate after a rigorous search. No one was speaking before suddenly someone broke the silence.

"The only place that was possible now… is", and Akame looked toward the forest while saying it.

Tatsumi gasped. It would be bad for his kid to go there alone in the night. He must be hurry.

"Akame, take care of Mine, I will go to find her"

"I'll come with you", Esdeath leaped forward following Tatsumi.

"Me too!", Ester tried to follow her parents, but her mother rejected her without any words.

"Akame, take her"

They ran forward to the forest while Ester was rebelling from Akame grip. She got a bad feeling about this, but she could only watch them from behind, knowing Mine needed her as well.

After a while, they reached the deeper part of the forest. They were running together, but Tatsumi was slowing down. The fatigue from these past three days hit him back and Esdeath had to let him catching up.

"Let us split", Esdeath jumped to the south, not waiting for Tatsumi's agreement. It was a bad idea for him and he wanted them to stick together. But it was too late since he could not see her anymore. Tatsumi's sighed and ran forward to the west, hoping that nothing happened.

They had been following a blurry trail on the snow so far. It was not clear whether it came from a human or a beast, but with those trails as their only hope, they just followed it in a whim. The marks vanished there and there were no more sign for them to follow on.

It was harder for him to move as darkness started to fall on the forest. Tatsumi had at least tripped down two times and he bruised his arms and legs in the process. The air was getting colder as well, and his intuition started to make him worry. He had run for almost half an hour now, but as deep as he had gone, there were no sign of human's trace.

Tatsumi decided to turn back to where he splitted with Esdeath. The return journey was longer as he had to move in a much slower pace. Almost an hour passed when he finally reached the last trail that he saw, the place where they splitted. It was covered with snow now, but he stopped to look on it again.

After ten minutes of just standing idly and watching the snow covered trail, he finally saw another trail leading southward, to where Esdeath had jumped before.

"This is too small for Esdeath's footprint", he gasped, but felt a bit relieved thinking Sheele might have been with Esdeath by now. Slowly he walked to that direction.

The night was completely engulfing the forest with darkness, and Tatsumi barely managed to lit a self made torch to help him walk on the forest. His pace was much reduced, but fortunately for him the weather was clear that night. Had it been snowy as the day before, he might have been forced to give up and return.

About 500 metres from where he switched course, faintly he heard sound from behind. He looked back trying to know what was making the sound, but he could not see it clearly. He made himself ready and drew a short blade that he carried all the time. As he squinted his eyes, some shadows appear from behind the trees.

"Tatsumi!", Mine came running toward him. She hugged him while her face still looked tired and worried.

"How?! Have you found Sheele?", she looked at him while holding the tears from the corner of her eyes.

Slowly he shook his head. His face was grim while looking away, trying to avoid Mine's eyes. She, in return, was bowing her head, while a sob was heard after that.

Behind them, Akame and Ester followed Mine and approached the standing Tatsumi.

"Sorry, I could not forbid them to come here…", Akame pat his shoulder.

"Yeah, it's okay. I understand their feeling", as he hugged Mine, trying to comfort her.

"Why… Why did she run away…", Mine kept asking the same question. None of them know why. Sheele looked alright that morning, before Akame pulled Mine to her room and told her about how Tatsumi survived his last fight. She was not away, she was okay at that time. So, why?

"Daddy, where is mommy?", now Ester looked worried as she could not find her newly found mother. Tatsumi just remembered about Esdeath and then hurried himself to catch with the ex-general.

"She was heading this way before, and it seemed Sheele did it much earlier. I found a blurry trail heading here", he started to walk again to the south. The group followed him from behind.

Now the group had Ester and weakened Mine, the pace was even slower. They walked southward for more than another hour. It was almost the edge of the forest, but as they moved forward, Mine jumped and ran to a nearby open area.

"Mine! What happened" Tatsumi fasten his pace.

Finally he catched up with them, but what he saw was not what he wanted.

Mine was hugging unconscious Sheele, crying loudly. An Ultra class danger beast, laying down, Dead. Esdeath, laying down. Dead, or seemed to be dead.

"MOMMY!", Ester ran as fast as she could to her mother. Crying the loudest she had ever had. Agony was on her face, but she could only cry while sitting, hugging on her unresponsive mother.

Tatsumi was also in horror. He stand beside both of them, but Esdeath was severely damaged. The mark on her chest was gone, and her left arm was ripped away, leaving her in the pool of her blood.

"Tat… tatsumi…", she weakly spoke. Tatsumi held her head, trying to stop the blood that had been pouring from what had been her left arm. He cried and did it in panic, but Esdeath hold his cheek with her right arm.

"Listen… Ta.. Tatsumi… Please… take… care… of … Ester…."

"No… NO! Don't you leave me behind now. Please Esdeath, please!", Tatsumi could only cry as he said so. "Why… Why you did this…."

"Because… I… promised… you… that… I… will…. And… I… want… to… protect..." her face was too pale now. She lost so much blood that she was hanging by a thread.

"No… Esdeath… please.. NOOOOOO", Tatsumi scream his lung out, hoping that it would call her back.

 **Whoop! Next chapter will wrap it up! Please do leave comment or feedback if you have any :)**

 **and... till next week!**


	14. The Answer Fin

"Daddy!"

"We are home"

Two little girls were running hastily as they enter Tatsumi's house. The first girl was so energetic, as she ran with full power toward her father. The second girl looked more mature and composed. She walked as soon as she entered the house. But both of them was impatient to get back to their father.

"Sheele! Ester! Don't run around!... WHAT HAVE BOTH OF YOU DONE!? Why there are these marks on the floor!", a scream echoed through the house from the kitchen, followed by the little pink haired lady who did it.

"Aaa… sorry mommy…", Ester bowed her head, but her step sister did not seem to be bothered by her angered mother. She just hugged her father, hoping that he would protect her from her mother's rage, as what he usually did.

"I won't defend you this time. Your mother is right!", unexpectedly he said it to his now pouting daughter. She put a puppy eyes, pledging innocent to her usually lenient father.

"Now come here! You have to clean your mess", she handed them a piece of fabric to sweep the floor. The older sister received it without any comments, while the younger pull her lips looking dissatisfied. Mine could only take a deep breath looking at her blood daughter. But she was not angry anymore looking at her daughters sweeping the floor, cleaning the dirt and snow that came inside to the house as they just ran without taking off their shoes.

The door suddenly creaked, and the whole family inside was looking who did it. A girl in her early twenties, came and get in to the house.

"Auntie!", Sheele dropped her fabric and jumped to the girl.

"Sheele! You have to finish your task first!", Mine grabbed the little girl.

"Akame! Where did you go to?", She looked to the red crimson eyes that was just entering the house.

"I went to hunt this early morning. Sorry I left without saying anything", she scratched the back of her head. On her other hand, she dragged pieces of meat, ready to be cooked.

"Yey! Yey! Roasted meat!", she jumped off from Akame, and working back on the cleaning duty. Her face was brightened up now, and Tatsumi could only shook his head.

But Ester face went gloomy. He noticed it, and approaching her while asking, "why do you look so sad?"

"If only mommy was here, and we can eat all together"

The entire room went silent.

Even Mine was affected. She was struck hard as well by the event that happened a month ago. Esdeath saved her daughter. That was enough for her to put away all hesitation and accept her to her house. But only… if she could join them…

Tear formed on Ester's eye. Tatsumi hugged her, while all of them sunk to their mind.

* * *

" _Why is mommy screaming… why did mommy said she won't let daddy to come near us anymore..", Sheele was crying on her room. She was there when her mother was screaming to Akame, looking for her father. That words went in to her mind, deep enough to put a scar on her heart._

" _Daddy… I miss you… where are you…", she was silently crying, asking for the comfort from the hands that had guarded her ever since._

 _Sheele was always closer to her father than to her mother. Her father was strict, yet always loving her with an open arms. She felt so much safe and comfort with her father. It didn't mean she felt to be far off with her mother, but she always had argument with her. Not with her daddy, who would always pat her head and hug her with warm arms._

 _Tired of crying, Sheele sat on the edge of her bed, looking towards the forest. There was another thing heard by her beside of her mother's scream. She heard on that morning, Akame was telling her father about the forest. She could only hear the forest, but that was all she needed. She knew, if she wanted to meet her father again, she must go to where her father was, to the forest!_

 _It did not take long for her to jump of the window. It was not a tall wall, so she had usually been doing it for a while. She ran away as fast as she could, hoping to meet her father and be in his comforting embrace._

 _Little did she know that as she ran toward the forest, her father had come back to the house, trying to solve the problem he had with her mother._

 _Sheele kept running. She reached the edge of the forest not so long after her journey start. She was quite familiar with this forest, apart from being there with her friends, her father had taken her there couple times. She knew where her father would usually go, and which part that was forbidden since there were a lot of danger beast around._

 _It was around 4 at that time, and her family at her house had just realised about her missing. She was already deep inside the forest, checking where her father would usually have been. But she found nothing there, and again she tried to reach other places, only to find it was empty. The sun was almost set when she decided to just move southward, to where danger beast usually showed their face to the hunters on the forest. She thought maybe her father was hunting, and there were the only place where she had not yet reached so far._

 _She ran from the point where she decided to go south. Sun started to set slowly, decreasing the lights that penetrated the lush trees above. The darkness fell quite fast, but as she was small, it did not really give her a problem to move forward. She tripped couple times, but it was not too bothersome compared to be slapped in the face by shallow branches from the trees._

 _She finally felt tired after hours of running. She was walking now, uncautious about her surrounding. It was worsen by her depression, as her mind kept bugging her with image of her father leaving them for good. The weight of her feet multiplied, and she could not properly moved her feet anymore._

" _Groarrr"_

 _As hard as a lighting, the unfamiliar sound was heard and struck her. The sound was mighty, let her fell on her knees, shaking and unresponsive. She then saw a pair of jewel flying in the darkness, far away in front of her. The jewel moved to her direction, fast but heavy, and it got bigger as it was approaching her._

 _The eyes was emerald, similar to her own eye. The eyes reminded him to her father, making her happily scream._

" _Daddy!"_

 _But the creature in front was different from what she thought._

 _It was finally close enough to reveal its full shape. A mighty snow tiger, ultra class danger beast. This beast was famous to be a skilled fighter. It had successfully killed many hunter, even once beat an imperial arm wielder in a lengthy fight._

 _The tiger was at least 7 feet tall, eclipsing her tiny posture below the monstrous tiger. Its fur was silky and long, as white as snow on the ground. Stripped with golden fur, it gave the tiger its own beauty compared to other beast. It showed its fang when the little pray in front was trembling, unable to move. The claw was unsheathed, ready to tear Sheele apart and made her to be pulp of flash._

 _The mighty ultra class danger beast revealed itself in what others might say unlikely event. It was really rare, only seen a couple times for the last decade. Most of the hunters had never met any ultra class beast on their life. But today, it showed itself in front of fragile powerless little girl._

" _Help… Daddy Help!", the little girl cried, asking for her hero daddy to come and save her from the savage enemy._

 _The pledge was a signal for the danger beast to begin its feast. Without anymore waiting, it jumped toward Sheele, convinced it would rip her apart in one blow. But right before it touch the powerless girl, a scream was heard from the front._

" _Don't you dare harming my husband's daughter!", and a charging Esdeath kick the beast on the head, sending it to fly couple feets from where it intended to land. She soon approached Sheele to check if she was alive, but then she was forced to look back to the roaring tiger in front._

 _The beast was more than angry, charged toward its new prey. But this one was not an easy food, as the target swiftly dodged its attack and send another blow toward its' stomach. She kicked it with all of her power, hoping to finish the battle as soon as possible._

 _The tiger snarled in hurt, but it was more cautious now than before. Esdeath grinned, cursing that she could not use any of her special ice anymore._

" _You are lucky today, stupid tiger. If I had my strength_ _with me, you would be my dinner in no time. But let's enjoy our fight today, I will make sure you entertain me as much as you can", she smiled hoping for a good fight._

 _Yet her confidence was not accompanied by her power. She fought in pure fighting skills and ability now. The only thing that she could use from her imperial arms was creating an ice rapier for her to strike the danger beast._

 _It did not have the ultra class predicate for nothing. Many blows was dealt, but it did not seem to be weaken at all. The beast was getting angrier than ever, and it started to use its paws and claws to attack._

" _ARGH", finally a claw managed to make a huge scar on her left arm. Blood pouring profusely from the wound, making her felt dizzy._

" _Now you angered me, you pathetic cat!", she dashed toward the tiger. It was ready for the blow, but the angered Esdeath was using her extra humane speed to make it confused. She landed a blow on one of the tiger's leg, this time managed to create a deep wound. The tiger roared, making Sheele cried even harder._

" _Auntie… be safe", she could only cheer her savior that words, not sure what else she could do._

 _She looked at the her step daughter, smiling. But a split second was enough for the tiger to charge back at her. She was almost succeed to dodge the last charge. The tiger fang tore apart her left arms, letting the blood poured like afountain._

" _AAAAAAA", she screamed as the pain grew steadily. Her vision was so bad that she could not really see the tiger anymore. She leaned with the rapier holding her standing._

 _The tiger was in a little bit better condition. It still could stand properly, though one of its leg was severely injured and unusable. They looked at each other, knowing that the tiger had an advantage and could finish both of them in no time._

" _Damn…. You bastard demon, you shall obey my command! Now Grauhorn!", as she scream, but nothing was created. The wind blew as if mocking her stupid scream which resulted in nothing._

 _The tiger was readying itself for the last charge. With one more blow, it should be able to finish the fight and fill its empty stomach. It was smart enough to know how to distract the equal fighter in front of itself. It snarled again, creating a roar that had shaken the ground._

 _The tiger jumped, slashing the standing Esdeath. It was not a strong one, she could dodge it easily, but she was not ready to return the blow. The tiger did not seem to be bothered by her, and leaped forward to where Sheele was sitting._

" _YOU BASTARD", she screamed. She tried to catch it, but it had been far away from her, much closer to Sheele._

 _Putting all of her power, mind, and thought, she screamed, hoping for the last effort to work out._

" _MAHAPADMA"_

 _She hoped, she believed, and she prayed, it worked, just like the last time. The last time when she needed it, the last time that she was ready to exchange her life to save her beloved._

 _As if the gods answered her prayer, time stopped, giving her what she needed to save the little frightened girl. She ran toward the tiger, but again, it was destined for her to lose the race against the time. She knew, it would never be enough._

" _Come on… just one more seconds… take me… take my life… just give me one more second", she pleaded._

 _Somewhere inside her subconsciousness, she stood in the face of a monstrous serpent. The scales were made out of ice and it breathed ice. It stood tall, more than 5 feet of Esdeath herself. It's golden eyes looking at her blue iris, stabbing and going through inside to reach her soul. She was unmoved, but then she felt the serpent dissolved to hail, leaving her to see the tiger was in her reach._

 _Without any more waiting, she stabbed her rapier to its skull, piercing its brain. Time flew again, but the tiger died almost immediately, with blood pouring from the top of its head._

 _Esdeath felt her body became so light, and her surrounding went dark. She could only faintly hear a number of people coming to their direction, hoping that it was someone that she wanted to see for the last time._

 _On her dying breath, she saw the person she loves, the person that made her to change, that made her ready to sacrifice herself to a weak child that worth nothing for her. At least before she delivered her child and met Tatsumi again._

 _She knew Tatsumi held her head on her arms. She spoke with him. But he seemed to move further from where she was. Not just him, but the trees behind. They were all moving away from her. Or maybe… she was fading away from them?_

 _Then she heard her daughter screamed. Her heart throbbed, her eyes was teary. But before she could do anything, darkness embraced her to its arm._

* * *

Sun had set on the west, but gloom had not yet fully lifted up from Tatsumi's house. They spent the day with each other, but they knew something was missing. Even Mine felt that.

A day before, when they were on their bedroom, Tatsumi noticed how Mine looked to have something on her mind. He went to ask her what was actually bothering her and her answer was totally unexpected for him.

"You know, I felt bad as well for distrusting Esdeath that much. She might be fighting the beast because of her crazy nature who enjoys fighting with stronger opponent. But without her, we won't have Sheele here right now. Without her, we won't have you here right now… So yeah I might be feeling bad for her. I don't really hate her now… I can't… at least after what she had done for us", she looked down.

Tatsumi hugged her and kissed her on the forehead, before stroking her head to let her calm.

That night, they dined with what Akame caught earlier. For these past weeks, the dinner time was never more silent than it is. it was grim. It did not take long for them to finish it, and return to their own room.

Akame stayed on the middle, and Ester lived with Sheele on their room. Before they closed the day, Tatsumi went to other part of the house, to a makeshift room that was built just to create a space for a body there.

He went in, caressing the body laid down on the room. He stroke the long blue silky hair, and kiss the unresponsive forehead. The left arm was gone, replaced with an empty sleeve from a long shirt. Smiling he left the room, looking at the body who breathed gently, waiting for the soul to return to the comatose body.

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Tatsumi's mind went back to when they found Esdeath, Sheele, and the Tiger beast. He hugged the dying Esdeath, on the verge of passing. She had lost too much blood to live, but she managed to hold on for her dearest to come.

Ester was hysteric, looking at her mother. She screamed, from her own heart, hoping and praying anything could save her mother from leaving them.

Suddenly she was standing on a snowy plain, in a middle of snowstorm. There was nothing, but slowly the snow gathered and piled up, forming a shape of a snake. The snake grew larger and larger, eventually became at least 20 feet tall. Its eyes were looking at hers, but she stood bravely looking back to the golden eyes.

The serpent jumped toward her. But instead of a collision, it entered her body, from the head until its tail.

She snapped back to reality, and looking at an ice formed on where her mother's left arm before. The ice closed the wound, preventing more blood loss that could mean dead.

Everyone was looking at the arm, before looking back to her. She was standing, confused, and crying. But her father came and hug her gently, stroking her head to comfort the astonished little girl.

They stayed there for the night, and Esdeath's breath went back normally after hours of resting. But she did not wake up, not even after days of that fateful night.

As soon as he closed the door, Tatsumi felt her heart was throbbing. He feared, and his instinct told him something may happen to the person he loves. He barged in and hold Esdeath's only hand, before kissing her gently.

He opened his eyes, pulling his body after he felt it was enough, then stood up to move out from the room. When he was about to let the hand go, he felt the grip tighten. He looked back, and saw the blue sapphire eyes, weakly looking at him. Smile was on her face, and tear was on the edge of her both eyes.

He jumped back to her. Hugged her and finally saying, "Welcome home"

* * *

 **It is... finally done...**

 **what a ride! Thanks for staying with me for these past three months. One thing I learnt, writing is never easy. I appreciate a lot those other enthusiasts who are willing to spend their time sharing their wonderful imagination through their writing.**

 **special thanks for those other stories who inspired me and those who have followed and reviewed this story. Arga101, shadowlord, otakusouth, and many more who have been generous enough to share what you think about with me :)**

 **hope you enjoy this as much as I do! The ending might not be satisfying... but that's the best I could think of :) I am thinking to add one more happy zappy chapter, will be coming in one or two weeks!**

 **anyway, thanks again! Hope you had a great one with my story and till next time ;)**


	15. Bonus Chapter Update

Hi Everyone!

Sorry that I have been not active for quite a while. Life has been quite busy, and If our friend **Shadowlord** reminded me, I have to admit that I forgot my promise :(

The bonus chapter is done, but I will need some formatting and rewritting. Hope i can publish it out within a week. Thanks a lot for your patience and support!

Best,


	16. Bonus: The Happy Journey

**FINALLY!**

 **I had a chance to fulfill my promise! Sorry for being so delayed, but I hope you guys won't be mad at me :sweat_smile:**

 **It is sad that it has to end, but nonetheless, it was a fun journey! Thanks again for your comments, supports, and responds to this story. It is truly what paid me back for writing this story.**

 **So! Lets treat this chapter as my gratitude to you guys! Hope you do enjoy it!**

* * *

Months had passed since the fateful days when Tatsumi's families got new members. It was not always a smooth ride. His wives were creating little sparks once in a while. Yet Tatsumi enjoyed the bumpy ride, especially looking at how happy his daughters were. Sheele had always been asking for a sibling, and now she got one.

That particular morning, Tatsumi was again sitting in the middle of his house, enjoying the time that he had before having to hunt for his family.

"Daddy!", Sheele came storming from outside. She was just finished playing with the neighbours' kids, while Ester followed slowly from behind.

"hey! be careful!", Tatsumi was worried looking how his younger daughter almost tripped on the floor.

"Daddy Daddy! Do you remember you promise to us?", Sheele asking, now trying to mimic her usually working puppy eyes.

"What are you talking about now?", he confused. The latest promise he made was that he would bring a big boar for their lunch today.

"About our lunch?", he asked while stroking his daughter's head.

"Nooo!", Sheele pouted.

"Then what it is?"

"You forgot about it!", she frowned.

Her father sighed and smiled. He tried to recall more promise he had made. He knew he made some, but usually his daughter won't be this demanding.

"It's about going to the south! I am bored here now.. I want to go there!", she said with full spirit.

"Hmm... But we have to ask your mother.."

"I want to go too! I missed the sunny days...", Ester pledged to help her sister.

It was Ester who reminded Sheele about this promise. She told her how nice everything were on the south. The burning sun, the beautiful grass covered land, the warm breeze, all was just a fairytale for Sheele and she could not wait to be there.

"Let's go daddy! We can visit aunty Akame too!", she tried to put more reason.

Akame went back to the south months ago, a month after Esdeath woke up. As free as she usually was, tied down to a place for a long time would just make her bored. They asked her where she lived, but she just said she did not have one.

"uh..."

Esdeath came from outside. She just finished chopping the woods. She only had one arm now, but her beauty was as flawless as it would always be. She recovered fast, and living a family life helped her to get back to her usual self.

"Hmm... I kind of missed the capital too. Why don't we go? I need to pay certain person back", she grinned while replying. Apparently she followed the conversation from outside the house.

"Uh... let ask Mine"

"I AGREE", a shout from the kitchen came, making Tatsumi to sigh. Now he lost four to one and had no way to say no.

It was not like he hated the idea of going to south. He wanted too. He missed it all. The food, the sun, and the people. But now Esdeath was with him. It would be a dangerous trip down there, not mentioning if they found some enemy from the past.

Esdeath was no longer able to use any of her demon's extract power. Nonetheless, she was still a really skilled fighter. He reassured himself that he should not worry much, as long as they did not meet any imperial arms wielder.

"Alright...", he agreed followed by the girls happy scream.

* * *

They left the village on the following day. They had to go to Ashka city first, as Tatsumi wanted to rent a carriage for their ride. It would be much easier for them than to go by foot, and obviously concealing the presence of the people's then enemy.

But he could not find any cart to rent. He thought it might be a good thing so he could delay their trip.

"No! Let's just walk to south, like what you guys do before!", Sheele demanded.

"No Sheele! It was not safe at all. We got both you and Ester now and I don't want us to go through dangerous trip."

"But it seemed to be a lot of fun...", she did not plan to give in.

"Yeah daddy! It's fine! Me and mommy went north by foot before and it was a lot of fun"

"Uh...", he looked at Esdeath. "Yeah, sure no one wants to mess up with Esdeath before, but not now", he said on his mind.

Not able to convince his party, he accepted to move forward on foot. The weather improved on Ashka, lifting up his mood as well, to a long journey heading to the south.

A normal trip to the capital would take almost three weeks on foot. If, they were fully grown adult. But that was harder for Tatsumi's group. The kids were not really up to this long journey and sometimes they had to be carried by their parents, slowing down the journey even more.

They finally arrived to the capital, two months after starting their journey. The kids were elated to see the big buildings and magnificent towers, while the adults were thrilled to remember what happened the last time they were here. Tatsumi sighed, remembering everything that happened years ago. Now everything had changed much that the place looked more merrier than it had ever been.

"Daddy! What is that huge building", Sheele pointed the palace. It was much humbled now as the rebuild had been finished. The towers were shorter and the palace area was smaller. As much as it had changed, the palace still emitted the royalty feeling.

"That's the palace, where the king lives", he said while remembering the last moment he shared with then wrecked palace.

"I want to go inside! Can we?", She pulled her father's arm.

"Sheele! It was not open for public!", Mine rebuked her daughter. She was too, reminded what happened here for the past years.

Meanwhile, her father looked confused.

"Where is your mother?", he asked Ester

* * *

Esdeath was following the group from behind before she caught an arrow shot from her left. She turned back to see who was the shooter, but the figure went back inside a dark alley. She looked at the arrow and noticed there was a paper tied in the middle of arrow. She sighed and took the paper, reading the message inside.

 _Come to the basement_

It was one line message, but she knew what it was and who sent it. She slipped away while the kids were making Tatsumi and Mine busy to answer their question.

Esdeath was not bad with direction, but it still took her a long time to get to the book store again. She was only there once and it needed much effort to recall the direction again. But she was happy since she wanted to see her rival again.

She finally reached the store after an hour wandering around, then proceeded to enter the small old wooden door. It had a tiny sign hanging, printed with word "closed", but the door was not locked. Inside, a man with a robe was standing nearby the secret wall. He nodded to approaching Esdeath and entered the secret code, opening the wall to let her get in.

With a small and slow steps, she marched to the old Night Raid basement. Her memory about this room was vividly flashed on her mind as she took her steps one by one. The door at the other end opened before she reached it, and inside she saw Najenda sitting behind the desk.

"She was behind not so long ago…", Ester was worried that she missed where her mother went to.

Tatsumi was not less worried. He had been paranoid since they entered the capital, knowing how many enemies were trying to revenge to her partner. Now that she only had one arm, she might be targeted even more by people thinking she was more vulnerable by that handicap.

The supposedly fun trip became a search and rescue effort, but fortunately for them Esdeath was not really hard to describe. Though she kind of change her appearance for safety, it was not hard for them to ask one handed tall lady around. They catched up to where she went instantly.

The group arrived at the bookstore. Mine and Tatsumi gasped, remembering the families they had shared this building with, and they had lost in their fight. Sometimes remembering it made both of them felt uncomfortable with Esdeath, but with time they had forgiven her and live on.

Tatsumi led the group to get in. It was an empty room, but there were no changes at all from the day they were doing rebellion to what it was now. Without her control, Mine let down a tear, looking at the chair where she and the deceased Sheele spent time together.

Tatsumi was also sentimental, but soon he noticed that the room was not left empty for a long time. It was not left dusty on some part of the room, particularly the secret room where they usually was. He signaled all of them to move behind him as he opened the secret door again, after such a long time…

"Welcome back"

"Heh, not a polite way to invite someone to your place, right?", Esdeath replied the welcome with a sarcastic answer, raising her only arm holding the arrow shot at her. But she came with a good intention. Seemed it was vibrated through her tone.

"As far as I know, you are still a threat to the kingdom. It was only me who guarantee the new king to better let you go, you know?"

"Tch"

"Why do you come here? I need to know that"

Esdeath laughed before replying, "we are on a vacation, and I want to stop by to say thanks to you"

"We? Who? And thanks for what?"

"Well my family, of course. And thanks for letting me know where my and my daughter future was. We live a good family life now"

"Wait, so you met Tatsumi, huh? How is he"

"Good as always, strong as he would possibly be, charming and cute as he used to be"

"Ah, now you have a sweeter tongue", Najenda smirked

"Well, it must be changed so that my daughter won't just spit bad words", she chuckled.

"But how does Mine doing? I can't imagine she would forgive you"

"So you were telling me where Tatsumi was, knowing he had married that girl and she won't forgive me? Are you insane?", the smile gone.

"Well, I trusted Tatsumi, and I was… you could say… moved by your daughter. Had you come alone, I won't tell you a word"

She sighed. But before she could reply, Najenda rose up and being cautious.

"Someone was getting in. They breached the secret wall. Be careful"

Right after, she hold a rifle pointing to the door. Esdeath stepped away, getting ready herself.

The door cracked, and before Najenda shoot, a voice screamed behind the door, "Boss!"

She looked relieved, and then lowered her rifle before smiling and say, "Welcome back, Tatsumi"

He hurried himself in, followed by Mine who jumped and hugged Najenda, and the confused sisters.

"You have never contacted us for so long!", Mine was happy to finally see someone else on their team living and alive.

"Wait, no tricks this time?", Esdeath thought it was just a projection, turned out it was real Najenda there.

"No tricks", before she turned her head to Mine, "well sorry Mine, I could not go from the capital. I was wondering why you guys had never come here"

"Well here we are! Sheele, Ester, say hello to aunty Najenda. She worked together with your mommy, me, aunty Akame, and my other comrade before"

"Ah! You are that aunty from before!", Ester remembered

"Hmm?", now Tatsumi and Mine looked toward Ester

Esdeath cut them, "well, how do you think we can find you without her help? Heh, as much as I was not expecting, but that's the only reason how we could be there"

Tatsumi looked surprised and she looked at Najenda. She only nodded and smiled, "I did the check work first"

Tatsumi sighed and thanked her too, "Well, I guess I should thank you as well. Without you then I would never know my other daughter", as he bowed.

"Considered it as a repayment for helping this kingdom, so you can earn your true happiness"

He smiled, while the kids looked confused, unable to understand what the adults were talking about.

"But tell me, how did you guys finally live together? That was like the wildest dream I ever had", she looked genuinely curious.

"Well, it was a long story, but I guess we also saw what you saw on Esdeath when you told her where we were", Tatsumi smiled, followed by Najenda.

"Fair enough", she approached the kids and patted their heads, 'so are you guys staying at the capital?"

"Well maybe for couple days, until the kids get bored", and they laughed.

* * *

Three days passed and the kids finally got bored with the city. They had circled them multiple times. The euphoria had gone and Sheele started to whine again about the ocean. Afraid that it would make it worst, the groups went eastward, where the sandy and sunny beaches were abundant.

The capital was like a middle point from Tatsumi's village and the area that they wanted to go to. The journey took about another one and a half months before they finally arrived there. It was uneventful journey, beside from the kids who were trying to make the most experience out of their journey.

They finally arrived at a port city near the south eastern part of the empire. The port city had its own beauty compared to capital. Many people from other part of the worlds came in, and they had never met those people before.

"Daddy! Look at that man's hair. It was like a bonsai tree!", Sheele pointed to a guy that was crossing not so far away from them.

"Sheele! Don't point your finger at someone! It's rude", her mother scolded her.

"Fine…", she pouted, but her father smiled and they went on to see the market.

The city had several markets, and they went to the one selling fresh foods. Ester ran forward to an old man selling for grilled fish. Sheele followed her, but she did not see a guy coming and hit him before falling.

"Sheele! I told you not to run!", her father was a bit angry. Not just to her, but to the guy who was careless himself.

"Tatsumi!"

He looked to where the voice coming from. As he saw the man who had just accidentally knocked his daughter, he was surprised and happily greeted back, "Wave!"

The two man hugged each other while Sheele weakly complained and her mother helped her to stand up.

Wave slowly pulled himself from Tatsumi, and shivered as he saw who was behind the man he just hugged while saying, "General…."

But he was surprised in the same time. The general standing in front of him felt more like, human. The blue haired ex-commander just smiling and wave back at him.

Sheele was looking around before pointing to other person, annoying her mother who had just reminded her.

"Aunty Akame!", she leaped forward to that person. The person looked back at her, and Sheele was scared as she finally noticed it was not her beloved Akame.

"Kurome, come here", Wave called his wife who had just come to the market as well. Tatsumi looked and smiled. He remembered well when Wave promised to take care of her.

Same as Wave, Kurome was surprised when she saw Esdeath. With a bit trembling voice she greeted the general.

"Soo…. I know now you two had lied to me… should I give you a punishment?", she grinned sadistically.

Wave and Kurome looked at each other, did not know what to respond. The general followed before they decided what to reply her with.

"Hahah just kidding. Give me and my family the best fish you have and I will forgive you", she laughed and smiled, easing off the tension before.

The group was invited to Wave's house, sharing their stories from after they were separated. They were there until the night fallen.

* * *

The day that was waited the most by the kids had finally come. Five of them went to the beach on southwest of the port city. Wave recommended them, knowing this beach was more secluded and less people were able to come, due to challenging road that they had to take to reach it. It was not a difficult path for them, and it paid off well as they reached the quiet paradise.

"Mommy! Daddy! It's the ocean!", Sheele ran leaving her parents to the sea. Her parents were just shaking their head, before preparing the place for them to rest.

"Ester, go with your sister, make sure she did not play to far", Esdeath asked her daughter to go. Ester was good at swimming, after passing years by playing in the ponds on the forest. She did not afraid at all about her being drown, but looking at Mine's face she knew that she was more than just scared.

"Hmm? Can Ester swim?", she asked Esdeath. Months of togetherness helped to warm their relation. Not to a best buddy standard, but at least they talked to each other normally.

"Heh, I bet she was much better than you", she smirked, teasing the little pinkette.

"You!" and she threw sands toward her ex-enemy.

Tatsumi was just looking from behind, smiling and being grateful that his family was getting along with each other. But the scene in front of him was tickling in his mind. Something was knocking his brain. It felt familiar.

"Tat.. su… mi~~~", a sound calling him back to the reality. Before he could even look toward the source of the sound, a soft and warm sensation felt on his right shoulder. He did not need to guess, but know what it was.

"Hey! It's not fair!", Mine was complaining from the left side.

"It's my asset! Go use your own if you want to get our husband attention", she smiled victoriously.

"Uhh…", she laid on the sand next to Tatsumi, before untangled her bikini and teasing him, "could you put a sunblock here… please…" she smiled as innocent as she could.

Tatsumi drooled a bit and getting ready to rub the back. Esdeath grinned, did not expect that was effective for getting his attention. She used her attack again, resting her big rack to Tatsumi's back.

The man on test was unsure about the option. But as he was thinking, a scream was heard from the ocean.

"Daddy!", and he saw Sheele's hand was raised above asking for help.

The scene rang the memory of his dream, the dream that helped him made his decision. He shivered as he remembered the memory played vividly as if a reality.

Before he could react, Esdeath ran and jumped to the ocean, swam fast enough to get through the waves and reached the gasping Sheele. She carried her back to the land, followed by the worried Ester.

"Daddy.. Mommy.. Sorry I was not close enough to Sheele", Ester sobbed as she apologised to fail her duty.

Mine came and patted her head, consoling her before saying, "it is ok Ester… the most important thing is that Sheele is safe now" and she took her hand to get closer to Sheele.

The other kid was not in danger, but she was a bit traumatized after that. It was her first experience to get in to the sea, and she was not aware about the danger. The sun had set when she would be brave enough to get near to the water again.

"Guys! Help me to prepare dinner!", Tatsumi called them. It was already dark, and they did plan to have their feast to close the day at the beach. The smell of grilled fish and seafood fragranted all over the place.

"Daddy.. I want to stay here for the night!", Sheele asked him.

"Are you not afraid with the beach?", he teased her daughter.

"Well I do a bit… but the fun was more than my fear!", she smiled happily.

They smiled together, and finally the kids slept out of their exhaustion, playing on the beach for hours.

Tatsumi sat opposite them, looking at the fruits of his loves with his wives. Now both of them sitting next to him, leaning their heads toward his shoulder.

"I never dreamt about this day before. Thank you Mine, Esdeath, you make me the happiest man on earth"

"And you made me a better person than my past. You made me realise the good path for us, and for our daughters", Esdeath looked at him.

"And you made us complete", Mine also looked at him.

Smiled he kissed both of them on the lips.

"I love you two"

And together they said, "we love you too"

* * *

 **Again guys, thanks a lot! and as always, till next time!**


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